Kingdom Eds: Rise Of Darkness
by Redterror
Summary: The Eds, along with Sora are tasked to save the many worlds from the heartless. They find many from the cul-de-sac including Alex, Kevin and Jonny but they must keep searching to find their friends. However, Alex isn't all that he seems to be...
1. The CulDeSac

Kingdom Eds: Rise Of Darkness.

Chapter 1. The Cul-De-Sac.

It was a beautiful day as the cul-de-sac had looked brighter than usual, as the sun had filled the otherwise cool air. The cul-de-sac kids were busy playing, as they were very cheery and had smiles plastered on their faces, except for three young outcasts...

xxxx

Double D and Eddy were standing on the construction site as they were searching for something, or someone.

" Ed, where are ya!?" Eddy asked. Double D had sighed, as he was getting aggravated at Ed and Eddy's actions.

" Eddy, we won't find Ed by simply shouting, we must search around and investigate." Double D had said. Eddy had looked at Double D with a confused stare, as he had raised an eyebrow at him.

" Whatever you say." Eddy said. Double D had walked forward as Eddy had looked at him with a confused look.

" Hey, where're ya goin'?" Eddy asked. Double D had turned around as he looked at Eddy incredulously.

" Didn't you listen to a word i said?" Double D asked. Eddy had shook his head, as Double D had sighed.

" Just follow me." Double D said. Eddy had walked behind Double D as Double D had led the two into the woods. They kept on walking until they saw the same thing over and over again.

" Are you sure we are not lost Double D, i keep seeing the same bush every time!" Eddy shouted. Double D had shrugged.

" You know how bushes are Eddy." Double D said. ' I can't believe i just said that.' Double D thought. Eddy had just shrugged as the two boys had been walking down a path, as they had saw Ed.

" Hey Ed, where were ya!?" Eddy shouted. Eddy had ran to Ed as he noticed that Ed had completely ignored him as he was staring in front of him.

" What are you looking at Ed?" Double D asked. Ed had ignored Double D and looked in front of him as if he was in a trance. Eddy and Double D had walked by each side of Ed as they looked at what he was staring at.

" It's just a door." Eddy said. The Eds were staring at a strangely designed door, but what was more strange, was that it was in front of a river and had no door knob nor keyhole.

" Why would a door be in front of a river?" Double D asked. Eddy shrugged as he shook Ed, which caused Ed to look at Eddy with a grin.

" Hi Eddy, cool door huh?" Ed asked. Eddy had shook his head.

" Come on lets go, we've got to meet Alex, remember?" Eddy said. Double D and Ed looked at Eddy.

" Sure thing Eddy." Double D and Ed said.

xxxx

The Eds had walked out of the forest as they had walked to a boy wearing a black cloak, black pants, fingerless black gloves and black shoes with a red line down the middle of them. He had black hair spiked back and tufts of hair covering his left eye, dark blue eyes, and toffee coloured skin.

" Where were you guys?" The boy asked. The Eds had looked at him with a sorry expression.

" We went looking for Ed." Eddy said. The boy had nodded.

" So Alex, what was this great idea of yours?" Double D asked. Alex had looked at the sky, as a smirk crept up on his face.

" How about we leave the cul-de-sac?" Alex asked. The Eds had gasped, causing Alex to look at the Eds.

" We can't leave, what about our families?" Double D asked.

" What about all the suckers- i mean kids?" Eddy asked.

" What about all my gravy?" Ed asked. Alex had looked at the Eds with a confused look.

" So you don't want adventure then? Fine i will go myself." Alex said. The Eds had shook their heads.

" We are coming with you, you are our friend, and it would be kind of dull without you." Double D said. Alex had nodded.

" Meet me here tomorrow morning." Alex said. The Eds nodded as they looked up at the darkened sky, as they had noticed it had turned to dusk.

" What do you want to do now?" Alex asked. The Eds had pondered for a second, before Ed had came up with an idea.

" How about we watch monster movies at my place?" Ed asked. Alex, Double D and Eddy had nodded as they followed Ed to his house.

xxxx

Alex and the Eds were in Ed's room as they were watching Godzilla, for the thirteenth time.

" Ed, this is boring." Alex said. Ed was too engrossed in the movie to even pay attention to Alex, as Eddy had laughed.

" Looks like Ed is hooked." Eddy said. Alex had laughed.

" Guess your right." Alex said. Double D had looked at his friends with a confused look, he thought Alex was acting a bit childish.

" Your acting different." Double D said. Alex had looked at Double D with a confused expression.

" What do you mean?" Alex asked. Double D had sighed.

" I mean, you are having much more fun than usual, and your not being grumpy, not saying you usually are." Double D said. Alex had nodded.

" Well, this might be my last time to have fun in this cul-de-sac." Alex said. Double D had nodded, as Eddy had yawned.

" When does this finish Ed?" Eddy asked. As if on cue, the film had finished.

" Well, that's ironic." Alex said. Double D had stood up.

" Well, i am going home to get some rest, I'll be seeing you." Double D said as he walked away from Ed's room.

" Me too, later Ed." Eddy said. Eddy had pursued Double D. Alex didn't bother say anything as he had walked away from Ed's room.

xxxx

Double D had a strange dream, but he wasn't sure it was a dream. He was drifting down water, as he suddenly appeared on the beach that they fought Kevin for their spot, but today was different. Double D had seen a figure standing in the water, but the sun was blinding his eyes, so he shielded his face from the light, as he had seen Alex, who had turned around and held his hand out, Double D stared at Alex and noticed his neutral face.

Suddenly a tidal wave was behind Alex, Double D had ran towards Alex as the two were caught in the wave, Alex still kept his arm out, still kept his expression. Double D had swam and saw his two friends Ed and Eddy standing waving at him, so he walked towards them. Double D was panting as he smiled at his friends.

The three suddenly saw a shooting star that looked like Double D, who was suddenly falling in the water as Eddy and Ed were trying in vain to help him. Double D was still plunging inside the water, until he landed on something solid, and when he stepped forward, doves had flown away as Double D looked at the ground below him, which looked like a princess...

xxxx

Alex was in the forest as he saw a door, he looked at it. He heard a voice.

" Open it." The voice said. Alex had raised an eyebrow.

" Open what?" Alex asked.

" Open the door." The voice said. Alex had looked at the door as he had noticed that it didn't have a doorknob and no keyhole.

" How?" Alex asked. The voice had let out a malevolent laugh.

xxxx

Double D had heard a voice, but it wasn't like the voice Alex was talking to, it had a soothing tone to it, rather than a malevolent one.

" So much to do, so little time..." The voice said. Double D had looked around but found nothing in the abyss of darkness.

" Take your time." The voice said.

" Don't be afraid." The voice continued. Double D had looked ahead of him as he saw some light.

" The door is still shut." The voice said. Double D had looked up.

" Now step forward." The voice said. Double D had nodded as he put his head at normal level.

" Can you do it?" The voice asked. Double D had nodded. Double D had walked to the light, as it had disappeared and went to another place, creating three pedestals.

" Power sleeps within you." The voice said. Double D looked at each of the arising pedestals, as he had a surprised look on his face.

" If you give it form... It will give you strength." The voice said. Double D had looked at the three pedestals.

" Choose well." The voice said. Double D had ran to the pedestal with the staff as he jumped towards it and picked it up.

" The power of the mystic." The voice said. Double D had looked up.

" Inner strength." The voice continued.

" Staff of wonder and ruin, do you want this strength?" The voice asked. Double D had nodded as the staff had dissipated.

" Your path is set." The voice said. Double D had looked around him in confusion.

" Now what will you give up in exchange?" The voice asked. Double D jumped off of the pedestal as he walked towards the pedestal with the sword and jumped on it.

" The power of the warrior. Invincible courage. A sword of terrible destruction. You give up this power?" The voice asked. Double D had nodded as the sword vanished in his hand.

" You've chosen the power of the mystic." The voice said.

" You've given up the power of the warrior." The voice continued.

" Is this the form you choose?" The voice asked. Double D had nodded. The pedestal he was standing on had sank into the ground as he had fell off of it, as the platform he was standing on gave way liked glass as he was plunged into darkness. He had landed on another platform which had the design of another princess, and was purple.

" You've gained the power to fight." The voice said. Double D had seen the staff materialise in his hand as he swung it and got in a fighting stance. He stuck down his staff.

" All right! You've got it." The voice said.

" Use this power to protect yourself and others." The voice said.

" There will be times where you have to fight." The voice said. Bug liked creatures with yellow eyes had appeared from the ground.

" Keep you light burning strong." The voice said. Double D had analysed the creatures. ' They don't seem tough.' Double D thought. Double D had gotten scratched by one of them as he howled in pain.

" Ow!" Double D shouted. ' Maybe i will not underestimate my enemies from now on.' Double D thought. Double D had jumped out of the way of an attack and hit the creature three time with and overhead strike, a lunge and a spin attack combo. He hit it again as it had dissipated. The other creatures had disappeared by sinking into the ground. Double D had been told about how you gain exp for killing the creatures and how they dropped items. The creature came behind the unsuspecting Double D.

" Behind you!" The voice shouted. Double D had looked behind him as he had done the three hit combo and hit it again, causing it to dissipate. More had come as Double D had done combos on them and eventually killed them all. One of them had sunk into the ground as darkness was spreading to his feet and eventually sucked him in. Double D was flailing his arms about until he could see. He stood up and dusted himself off, as he looked around him. He saw a door as he had ran to it and tried to open it, but failed.

" I can't open it." Double D said. Double D had turned around as he saw a treasure chest. He walked up to it and tapped it with his staff, causing it to open. He saw a crate as he had pushed it and then smashed it. He had got a potion in return. One part of the door became visible as a barrel had appeared. Double D had walked up to it and smashed it. Another part of the door became solid as Double D opened it, as he was blinded by a great light.

xxxx

Double D was in the cul-de-sac, as he saw Rolf, Kevin and Nazz.

" Hold on." The voice said.

" The door won't open just yet." The voice said.

" First tell me more about yourself." The voice said. Double D had walked up to Kevin.

" What do you want outta life dork?" Kevin asked.

" To broaden my horizons." Double D answered. Kevin had given Double D a look.

" To broaden you horizons huh?" Kevin said. Double D had walked up to Nazz as she noticed him and smiled.

" What's most important to you?" Nazz said.

" Friendship." Double D said.

" Is friendship such a big deal?" Nazz asked. Double D had walked to Rolf as Rolf had beamed a very bright smile at Double D.

" What is Double D-Ed boy so afraid of that will make him cry like a teensy weensy baby?" Rolf asked. Double D had raised an eyebrow at Rolf's question before answering.

" Being indecisive." Double D said.

" Being indecisive? Is that really so scary?" Rolf asked.

" You want to broaden your horizons. Your want friendship. Your afraid of being indecisive." The voice said.

" Your adventure begins at midday. Keep a steady pace and you'll come through fine." The voice said.

" Sounds good." Double D said.

" The day you will open the door is both far off and very near..." The voice said. The world around Double D had flashed white as he was on another platform that looked like another princess. He walked forward as the creatures had appeared and tried to kill Double D. But Double D was smarter and manoeuvred around the creatures and destroyed them one by one. Suddenly a light came from above and landed a few yards in front of Double D as he had stepped on the light and felt rejuvenated.

" What sort of magic is this?" Double D asked. A light came from the spot he was standing on and created a path for Double D to walk across, as with each step he took, the stairs would disappear one by one. Double D had walked forward to the light.

" The closer you get to the light, the greater your shadow becomes." The voice said. Double D's shadow had come alive as it had became three-dimensional and then grew larger in size as it's hair was wrapped around it's mouth like a scarf and had a heart shaped hole in his chest.

" But don't be afraid." The voice said. Double D took a step back.

" And don't forget..." The voice trailed off. Double D was scared witless at the beast as he had ran, but nearly fell off of the edge of the platform. Double D had gotten out his staff as the battle had commenced. The beast had gathered up a ball of darkness in it's hand as it punched the ground. ' His arm leads me to his head, which i can strike.' Double D thought. Double D ran up the creatures arm and did combos on the head as he was getting tech points and felt his strength rising, he kept on attacking until he fell off of the arm. The creature was on it's knees. ' Looks like it's given up.' Double D thought.

Double D was wrong as the beast had fire energy blasts through it's chest, so Double D decided to bash the blasts back, ultimately winning the battle. The monster looked down upon Double D, as Double D had jumped back, but his weapon had vanished away from his hands as he sat on the ground as the beast had place it's two fists in the ground. Double D was slowly being covered by darkness.

" But don't be afraid." The voice said. Double D had been full covered in darkness.

" You hold the mightiest weapon of all." The voice continued. Double D was so covered in darkness he could barely move his body.

" So don't forget:" The voice said. Double D's vision was blurred as he was losing consciousness.

" You are the one... Who will open the door." The voice said.

xxxx

Double D had woken up in his bed, as sweat was trickling down his face.

" Was it a dream, i couldn't be, it was too real." Double D said. Double D got out of his bed as he got a loofah and a towel and showered himself. After the shower he had gotten dressed and met with Alex and Ed and Eddy.

" Salutations gentlemen." Double D said. Alex had looked at Double D.

" Your late." Alex said. Double D looked at the ground

" I'm sorry, i must have overslept." Double D said.

" Eddy thought up of a scam, tell him Eddy." Alex said. Eddy whispered in Double D's ear as Double D looked at Eddy with a questioning one.

" You sure it will work?" Double D asked. Eddy nodded.

xxxx

Alex and the Eds walked out of the candy store with jawbreakers in their mouths as they were walking down the side way, time had flew by as it was night time already.

" It's getting late, see you later." Double D said. Eddy and Ed waved as they went back to their respective houses, Alex walked to the middle of the cul-de-sac, as he looked up at the air and saw a ball of energy.

" It's time." Alex said.

TBC...


	2. Night Of Fate

Kingdom Eds: Rise Of Darkness.

Chapter 2. Night Of Fate.

Double D was sleeping in his bed, he was serenely thinking about travelling the world, how his friends Ed, Eddy and Alex would be going with him, but his dreams were cut short due to hearing a loud thunder clap.

" What was that?" Double D asked. Double D had looked out of his window as he saw a ball of darkness where the forest was, as it was slowly absorbing all of the forest.

" I knew watching monster movies with Ed would be a bad idea..." Double D said. Double D had stood up from his bed as he saw the creatures from the strange dream.

" Ah!" Double D shouted. Double D had ran through his window as he landed on Ed.

" Hey Double D!" Ed shouted. Eddy had looked at Double D with a confused look.

" Have you seen those monsters, i swear ever since that dream, things have been getting weirder!" Eddy shouted. Double D had raised an eyebrow at Eddy.

" You have them too?" Double D asked. Eddy had nodded.

" Ed has em too!" Eddy said. Double D had looked at his two friends with a confused look.

" You think this is a coincidence?" Double D asked. Eddy had shrugged, as Double D facial expression had changed to a worried one.

" Where's Alex?" Double D asked.

" Right here." A voice said. They turned around to see Alex with a neutral facial expression.

" Alex, what's going on?" Double D asked. Alex had walked forward five steps before stopping.

" The door has opened." Alex said. Double D had raised an eyebrow at his friend, as did the other two Eds.

" What?" Eddy asked.

" The door has opened guys, we can finally go to the outside world!" Alex shouted. Alex was suddenly enveloped in darkness as his friends watched on in horror, their own friend had gone crazy.

" I'm not scared of the darkness." Alex said as he held out his arm. The Eds had ran to their friend as they had gotten quite close, but then they were surrounded by darkness and tried to reach for his hand, but they were too late as the world around them turned dark, but a flash suddenly appeared as the Eds had key shaped weapons in their hands.

" Keyblade." A voice said.

" Keyblade." Another voice said.

" Keyblade." Another said. Suddenly the creatures had appeared as they surrounded the inexperienced fighters.

" We're gonna die!" Eddy shouted. Double D had looked at his two friends with determination.

" We run!" Double D said as his confidence disappeared. The Eds had ran into the forest as they saw the sphere of dark energy as most of the forest was destroyed, as the land they were standing on was removed from the ground as they were levitated in the air.

" Reminds me of Eds movie." Eddy said. The Eds had saw the creature from their dream appear as it had looked at them with it's menacing eyes.

" Eddy, we gotta fight!" Ed shouted. They heard a screech as they saw Nazz being levitated in the air.

" I need help!" Nazz shouted.

" Nazz!" Double D shouted. Nazz had landed in front of the Eds as she looked at them with a confused look.

" What's going on, and where's Alex?" Nazz asked.

" We don't know the answers to both questions." Double D said. The creature was about to attack, but Ed got in front of Nazz as he got in a fighting style.

" If you want Nazz you have to go through me!" Ed shouted.

" And me!" Double D shouted. Eddy had chuckled.

" You get yourself killed." Eddy said. Double D had gotten Eddy by the ear as he dragged him next to himself and Ed as they got into their respective fighting styles, meanwhile...

xxxx

Alex had appeared in a room of some sort, and by guessing where he was, he appeared that he had landed in a castle.

" Looks like the darkness has got it's fine points." Alex said.

" Why do you intrude in my castle!" A voice boomed. It sounded female, as Alex just turned around and looked at the woman, she had pale skin was she had worn a black cloak and had a horns protruding from her head.

" I used the darkness." Alex said. The woman had looked at Alex with a crooked smile.

" Another?" She asked. Alex raised an eyebrow.

" Huh?" Alex asked. The woman had snapped her fingers as a boy at least 15, who wore a yellow sweater vest with a purple x on the front of it and blue pants, with blue shoes to match. The boy had silver hair and aquamarine eyes, and his muscles were quite big.

" What now Maleficent?" The boy asked. Maleficent had pointed at Alex.

" This boy has used the power of darkness to travel here, yet he is not afraid of it, nor is his heart tainted by it." Maleficent said. The boy had nodded. The boy had scanned at Alex, he thought he looked kind of cool, though that wasn't the point.

" Who are you kid?" The boy asked. Alex had furrowed his eyebrows at him.

" First of all, i am thirteen, second of all, I'm Alex." Alex said. The boy had nodded.

" I'm Riku, welcome to your new home." Riku said.

xxxx

Now you would think that since the Eds are the heroes, they would be winning, correct? Well, lets just see about that.

" Man, this guy's tougher than the last time i fought him!" Eddy shouted. Eddy was breathing heavily, as was Double D, only Ed was the only one who was able to compete with the monster, and he wasn't even trying. The creature had slammed it's fist into the ground, as darkness surrounded it, Ed had jumped on it's arm and jumped towards it's face as he bashed it with his keyblade so hard that the creature was sent flying back a bit.

" Whoa Ed, how did you do that?" Double D asked. Ed had shrugged. The monster was too tired to fight back, as it had been lifted up towards the ball of energy, as was the land that the Eds and Nazz were on.

" Double D, do something!" Nazz and Eddy shouted. Double D had looked at them incredulously.

" How? The only one who could stop this was possibly Alex, and he is gone!" Double D said. The cul-de-sac kids had screamed as they were sucked inside the ball of dark energy, as they had lost consciousness.

xxxx

A duck and a... thing were walking in a town as they looked up in the sky.

" Look, a star is goin' out!" The dog like creature said. The duck had walked forward, as he had obviously not cared about what his companion had said.

" Come on goofy, we gotta find that key quick!" The duck shouted. Goofy had looked at the duck.

" Sure thing Donald." Goofy answered.

xxxx

The Eds and Nazz were unconscious as they were leaning against a wall, as a dog had run into the alley they were in and licked each of them. The four had woken up, as Nazz had looked at the dog and awed at it.

" Who's a good dog?" Nazz asked. The dog had chased it's own tail as Eddy had looked on in boredom, as he decided to look to his left and saw a boy with spiky brown hair next to him.

" Hey kid." Eddy said. The boy had ignored him as Eddy had noticed he was unconscious, as he decided to shout loudly in his ear.

" Wake up!" Eddy shouted. The boy had shot up in the air and landed on his feet.

" What was that?" The boy asked in a surprised tone.

" That would be Eddy's big mouth." Double D said. Eddy had growled at Double D.

" Hey, watch it!" Eddy shouted. The boy looked at the four as he looked at the dog.

" Hello boy." The boy said. The dog had ran up to the boy as if he was the centre of attention.

" Can you tell us where we are?" The boy asked. The dog stuck it's tongue out and ran away. The Eds and Nazz had stood up.

" Shall we get him?" Double D asked. The boy nodded, the five had ran out of the alley as they had looked around the place for the dog as they had noticed a sign.

" Traverse Town?" Double D said. The five had looked around them as they noticed they were inside a town square, as there were various people around everywhere.

" Let's look around!" Nazz shouted with glee. The boys had looked at her with a confused expression, and then a smile.

" Yeah!" The Eds and the boy shouted.

xxxx

The Eds, Nazz and the boy were bored as they were sitting on the steps.

" What's your name?" Double D asked. The boy had looked at him.

" Sora." Sora replied. Double D had nodded.

" What's yours?" Sora asked.

" My name is Edd, with two d's." Double D replied.

" I'm Nazz!" Nazz shouted.

" My name is Ed, bringer of bacon!" Ed exclaimed. Eddy had looked at Sora with a blank stare, as Double D had elbowed him.

" Eddy." Eddy said unenthusiastically. Double D had looked at Sora.

" Do you live here?" Double D asked.

" No, i am looking for my friends." Sora said. Nazz and the Eds had looked at Sora.

" We are looking for a friend too." Double D said. Sora had nodded.

" Lets go somewhere else." Sora said. The five had nodded as they had gone around Cid's shop, as they saw a huge double door and walked through it, meanwhile...

xxxx

Alex had rolled out of the way of an attack from Riku, as Riku had once again thrust his arm at Alex as a blue flame hit him forcefully, causing Alex to sit on the cold hard ground.

" Come on, you gotta try harder!" Riku shouted. Alex had got up as he looked at Riku and had channelled his rage and frustration into a weapon that materialised in his hand, which looked like Riku's soul eater.

" Good job, now hit me with it!" Riku shouted. Alex had ran at Riku at exponential speed as he had knocked Riku in the air and jumped up in the air, but Riku as quick enough to block some blows from the young fighter.

" Keep going." Riku said. Alex had thrust his arm at Riku as a blue flame shot at him and caused Riku to fall out of the air and sit on the floor, as Alex had landed gracefully in front of him.

" Wow, you harnessed the power of darkness quicker than me!" Riku exclaimed. Alex had twirled his weapon around in his hand.

" And i surpassed you too." Alex said with arrogance. Riku had looked at Alex with an annoyed look, but maleficent had clapped.

" Alex, you must go to Wonderland to capture the princess of heart, Alice." Maleficent said. Alex had looked at Maleficent with cockiness.

" Piece of cake!" Alex said arrogantly. Riku had looked at Alex. ' The power of darkness is fuelling his arrogance and cockiness, and his anger and frustration.' Riku thought. Riku had shrugged. ' Oh well.' Riku thought.

xxxx

The Eds, Nazz and Sora had walked forward, until those creatures from the cul-de-sac appeared.

" It's the creatures from the island!" Sora shouted.

" What shall we do!?" Eddy asked with panic. Sora looked at Eddy with confidence.

" We fight!" Sora shouted. Eddy had gulped, as his keyblade had appeared in his hand as he hit one of the creatures and jumped back from a scratch attack from one of them.

" I don't have a weapon guys!" Nazz shouted. Sora had gotten out his keyblade as he bashed away all of the creatures, as they had dissipated.

" Whoa!" The cul-de-sac kids said. Sora had twirled his keyblade as he placed it over his shoulder.

" Too easy." Sora said with a smile. The five had walked to their left as they had attacked all of the monsters and went inside a hotel.

" Seems safe..." Double D said cautiously. Ed had ran forward, as he didn't notice a door open in his face as he ran into it, and fell on the floor. Whoever opened the door closed it again, as they didn't come out of their room.

" Little little little star." Ed said deliriously. Eddy had walked up to Ed while laughing as he got him up on his feet.

" There ya go Ed." Eddy said while snickering.

" Thanks Eddy." Ed said. The five had walked out of the other door, as Donald and Goofy had walked through the door the five had entered.

" Leon!" Goofy shouted.

" Leon!" Donald exclaimed. Donald had huffed angrily.

" Lets look somewhere else Donald." Goofy said.

xxxx

They had walked up the stairs as they kept on fighting the mysterious creatures, until they came across a double door.

" Shall we?" Double D asked. Sora and the rest nodded as they had opened the door and walked through it. They saw that the room was pink, and seemed cheery and pretty safe.

" Cool." Ed said. Eddy had walked forward as one of the monsters appeared before him.

" Easy." Eddy said as he bashed it with his keyblade. The creature had disappeared as three more appeared.

" Is that all?" Eddy asked as he hit all three. They all disintegrated. Five more had appeared as Eddy appeared to look nauseous.

" What's up with all these thing!?" Eddy asked incredulously. Double D, Sora, Ed and Nazz had seen Eddy fighting the creatures as he looked impatient. They helped Eddy as they had defeated the rest of the onslaught, as they had sat on the floor, exhausted.

" I'm not going in here again." Eddy said. The five had stood up as they had dusted themselves off and walked through another door as Donald and Goofy had came through the door they had entered.

" He's not here either." Donald said. Goofy had hung his head as he had sighed.

xxxx

The Eds, Nazz and Sora had been in another area where they saw a broken ladder, as Ed had tried to climb it, but was stopped by Double D.

" The ladder's broken Ed." Double D said. The five had looked to their right as they saw at least a 7 foot drop. Sora had jumped down, as did Ed, Eddy and Nazz.

" Come on Double D!" Eddy shouted. Double D had gulped as he had jumped down and landed next to Eddy. ' Strange, i didn't feel any pain.' Double D thought. They walked through another door, as Goofy and Donald had walked through where they had exited.

" Not here!?" Donald Shouted impatiently. Goofy had sighed.

xxxx

They were in a house where they saw a lot of furniture, and two dogs sitting together, which looked sad. The five couldn't do anything about it, as they walked through the back door of the house, which lead them to another alley way.

" Man what a dump." Eddy said. The alley looked dark and dank, making it a possible place for those monstrosities that were the little creatures. They kept on walking, destroying the little bug like creatures while doing so, as they came across a treasure chest, as Sora attempted to open it, but Eddy had pushed him out of the way.

" It's mine!" Eddy shouted as he tried to open it, in vain. Eddy had gotten angry and smashed his keyblade on the chest, causing it to open.

" Ah ha!" Eddy shouted as he had gotten the item from it.

" Potion?" Eddy asked. He growled as he threw it at Sora.

" What was that for?" Sora asked. Eddy had stomped off through a door, as the rest of the group had followed him.

xxxx

The five were inside the 1st district again, as they decided to go back to Cid, as they had backtracked back to Cid's shop, as they were leaning against the wall.

" Hey Sora, go outside will ya?" Eddy asked. Sora looked at Eddy with a glare, which Nazz thought was kind of cute.

" Why me?" Sora asked. Eddy had growled at Sora.

" Because i say so!" Eddy shouted. Sora had grumbled as he had walked out of the door.

" Gee Eddy, that was rude." Nazz said. Eddy had just shrugged. Sora though, was standing next to the door as he was grumbling hateful words about Eddy.

" Stupid Eddy, and his stupid three hairs." Sora grumbled.

" They'll come at you out of nowhere." A voice said. Sora had turned around.

" Who are you?" Sora asked. A man had walked from the corner of Cid's shop, he had long brown hair, dark blue eyes, and a scar across his face, as he wore a jacket, a white T-Shirt and jeans, with black boots.

" And they'll keep coming at you, as long as you continue to wield the keyblade." The man said. He put his hand on his forehead, as he seemed quite annoyed.

" But why, why would it choose a kid like you?" He asked. Sora had given the man a sharp look.

" Hey, what's that supposed to mean?" Sora asked as he got in a fighting stance. The man shook his head.

" Never mind, now, lets see that keyblade." He said as he walked forward.

" What, there's no way your getting this!" Sora shouted.

" All right, then have it your way." The man said as he got out a weapon. It looked like a gun and a sword put together. The man had jumped towards Sora, as Sora had ran at the man and whacked him with his keyblade with a three strike combo, but the man didn't feel phased at all, as he slashed Sora twice, causing Sora to be sent back quite far from the blow.

" Ah!" Sora shouted in agony. The man jumped to Sora, as Sora had gotten behind him and hit the man with a three hit combo, causing him to go rolling forward from the forceful blow of Sora.

" You little..." The man growled as he let his palm out as a fireball flew at Sora, but Sora had jumped out of the way. The man had jumped towards Sora, but Sora got behind him and hit him with the three hit combo, causing the man to roll forward again. The man had jumped towards Sora again but as he landed, he felt pain in his left leg as he knelt on it, his gunblade on his right, as the two fighters were in the middle of the square, as Sora had looked at the man with a dazed look, as he walked backwards.

" Now...you're...gonna... you're gonna..." Sora uttered as he fell to the floor. The man had stood up as he heard a voice behind him.

" Aw, your slipping Leon." A voice said behind him. Leon had turned his head around to see a girl wearing orange shoes, knee length socks, grey shorts with a blue belt around it, brown gloves with blue straps, a green vest held together by blue straps, and a yellow scarf, not to mention a white headband. She had black hair and dark purple eyes, as she smiled at Leon.

" I went easy on him." Leon said. He looked upon Sora's unconscious body, as he saw the Eds and Nazz walk through the door of Cid's shop.

" Looks like things are worse than we thought, a lot worse." Leon said as he looked at Sora, the Eds and Nazz.

TBC...


	3. Date With Destiny

Kingdom Eds: Rise Of Darkness.

Chapter 3. Date With Destiny.

Donald and Goofy were walking through the dark alleyway, as Goofy had his left hand next to his mouth as he had a scared looking face, while Donald had simply strode ahead of his companion, with a brave, almost smug, facial expression.

" Gawrsh, there's nobody here. Sure is spooky!" Goofy said with a scared tone.

" Aw, phooey, I'm not scared." Donald said boastfully. A hand had tapped Donald on his shoulder as he had stopped and screamed, causing himself to latch on Goofy's neck.

" Excuse me. Did the king send you?" A voice asked. Donald and Goofy turned around to see a woman who looked to be in her early twenties. She wore a pink dress with a purple belt around it, brown boots, bangles on her wrists and a necklace tied around her neck. She had brown, long hair which had a ribbon in it, emerald green eyes, and rosy pink lips.

xxxx

" Come on lazy bum. Wake up." A female voice said. Sora had shook his head as he looked around him to see a girl wearing a white, purple and black tank top, a pink skirt with a pouch next to it, a necklace and a black band around her neck. She had sported white and pink trainers. She had auburn hair and dark blue eyes.

" You okay?" She asked. Sora had gotten a closer look of the girl.

" I guess..." Sora said.

" Those creatures that attacked you are after the Keyblade." She said.

" But it's your heart they really want, because you wield the Keyblade." She concluded.

" I'm so glad you're okay Kairi." Sora said. The girl had looked at him with a funny look.

" Kairi? Who are you talking about? I'm the great ninja Yuffie." The girl said.

" Huh?" Sora asked. Sora had regained his true vision as the girl from the square was leaning down towards him.

" I think you might've overdone it Squall." Yuffie said. She looked at Leon, who had walked to look at her.

" That's Leon." He said. Sora had looked at the Keyblade next to Leon.

" The Keyblade..." Sora said. Yuffie was walking towards Leon with her finger in the air while shaking it.

" Yeah, we had to get it away from you to shake off those creatures." Yuffie said. She stopped quickly and turned around to look at Sora.

" It turns out, that's how they were tracking you." Yuffie concluded. Leon had folded his arms across his chest.

" It was the only way to conceal your heart from them." Leon said.

" But it won't work for long." Leon said. The next sentence Leon said made Sora look up at him.

" Still hard to believe that you of all people are the chosen one." Leon said. He picked up the Keyblade with his left hand and swung it as hard as he could, but it vanished out of Leon's hand, and into Sora's. This caused Sora to gasp out of surprise. Leon was walking to Sora as he began to speak.

" Well, i suppose beggars can't be choosers." Leon said. Sora looked sharply at Leon.

" Why don't you start making sense! What's going on here?" Sora asked.

xxxx

The woman Donald and Goofy met was in a room with them, named Aerith, but there were also four weird kids with them, one was tall, one was small, one had a sock hat, and another was a girl. They were Ed, Eddy, Double D and Nazz.

" Okay, you know there are many other worlds out there besides yours, right?" Aerith asked.

" Yeah." Donald answered. Goofy used his hands to cover his mouth.

" But they're supposed to be a secret." Goofy said.

" They've been secret because they have never been connected." She said.

" Until now." Aerith said. Everyone in the room opened their ears up to her.

" When the heartless came, everything changed." She muttered.

xxxx

" The heartless?" Sora asked.

" The ones who attacked you, remember?" Yuffie asked.

" Those without hearts." Leon said.

" The darkness in people's hearts-- that's what attracts them." Yuffie said. Sora had held the Keyblade up.

" And there is darkness within every heart." Leon said.

" Hey, have your ever heard of someone named Ansem?" Yuffie asked.

xxxx

" Ansem?" Everyone in the room asked.

" He was studying the heartless." Aerith said.

" He recorded all of his findings in a very detailed report." She said.

" May we see the report?" Double D asked. Aerith had shook her head.

" It's pages are scattered everywhere, to many worlds." She said.

" Scattered?" Donald asked. Goofy had put his fist in his hand.

" Oh, then maybe the king went to find 'em." Goofy said. Donald had nodded, while the Eds and Nazz were pretty clueless as to what was going on.

" Yes, those were my thoughts exactly." Aerith said.

" We gotta find him quick!" Goofy shouted.

" Wait, we've gotta find that key." Donald said.

" That's right. The Keyblade." She said.

" Hang on a minute!" Eddy shouted. Everyone turned to look at him.

" Tell me, what's going on." Eddy said. Everyone in the room groaned, as Eddy looked at them with a funny look.

" What?" Eddy asked.

xxxx

" So...this is the key?" Sora asked.

" Exactly!" Yuffie answered.

" The heartless have great fear of the Keyblade." Leon said. Leon had walked to the door.

" That's why they'll keep coming after you no matter what." He said.

" Well, I didn't ask for this." Sora said.

" The Keyblade chooses it's master." Yuffie said. She looked at Sora.

" And it chose you." She said.

" So tough luck." Leon said as he leaned against the door.

" How did all this happen?" Sora asked.

" I remember being in my room..." Sora trailed off. He gasped as he stood up.

" Wait a minute! What happened to my home? My island?" Sora asked. He had looked down on the floor.

" Riku! Kairi!" Sora shouted.

" You know what? I really don't know." Leon said half sarcastically, half sympathetically. Sora had hung his head as he had thought of his friends, meanwhile...

xxxx

Since Alex wasn't ready to utilise the power of darkness to use it to travel through the corridors of darkness, he had a black chrome gummi ship, with the heartless insignia at the top of it. He wasn't driving it, as it was one of the heartless that Maleficent created job. Alex was actually looking out of the window to see space, or what looked like it. Alex had sighed, he missed his three friends, Ed, Double D and Eddy, but then he remembered that they left him for the light, and he became angry again.

" Man, this is boring." Alex said. He walked to the heartless steering the ship, it looked like Sora, except it was black and grey.

" When are we landing?" Alex asked. The creature turned around and looked at Alex, and looked back to what it was looking at again.

" Whatever..." Alex said. Alex had turned around and sat on one of the chairs, as he rested on of his fists onto his chin, as he began to drift off to sleep, and begin to dream of the cul-de-sac. His last words were this.

" I will save you... I will save you all... I... promise..." Alex muttered as he went to sleep.

xxxx

Sora had jumped on the table and tapped the Keyblade on the chest , causing it to open. Sora had rummaged through the treasure chest, as he found out it was an elixir, and put it in his pocket.

" Keep it for later..." Sora muttered. Sora had jumped off of it and walked up to Leon.

" Are you ready?" Leon asked.

" What?" Sora asked.

" Are you ready to fight for your life?" Leon asked. Sora nodded. Yuffie had suddenly screamed.

xxxx

" What the-" Eddy was interrupted by Aerith.

" Yuffie?" She asked. Yuffie had suddenly ran past the group, as Donald was squished by the door that Yuffie opened, causing Eddy to laugh at him while running after Yuffie and Aerith as Double D, Nazz and Ed, did the same. Goofy looked at his friend in despair.

" So Yuffie, what now?" Eddy asked.

" You four need to go to the third district, pronto!" Yuffie shouted. Aerith had put her hands together as she began to chant.

" I know times are tough but we don't need to pray." Eddy said. The Eds and Nazz were enveloped in a green light, as they were transported to a part of Traverse Town, probably the third district.

" Well, guess she's got us here quick eh?" Eddy asked. The group had murmured as Sora had ran into them.

" Hey watch it! Oh, it's you." Eddy said. Sora nodded as the five had walked to the middle of the square, four of them with Keyblades in hand. Donald Duck and Goofy had suddenly crash landed into them, as they looked at the quartets Keyblades.

" The... Keys!" Donald shouted. Then, various armoured heartless had appeared before the group as Donald and Goofy helped Sora and the Eds dispatch them. Suddenly a purple coloured monster with the heartless insignia had appeared from the air, as it had assembled the parts of its body, and was ready to battle the young fighters.

" Uh oh..." Eddy murmured. The battle had started as the monster had walked towards Ed and kicked him, causing Ed to go flying and hit a wall. Eddy had ran at the heartless at full speed and jumped up into the air to bash it with his Keyblade, but got struck back by the hands. Double D took a sneakier attempt, and got a hit at its legs, but got kicked by them, causing him to be knocked out. Sora was protecting Nazz while Donald and Goofy were getting kicked around... literally.

" Ow!" Donald shouted.

" Donald!" Goofy shouted as he threw a potion at Donald, healing him.

" Thank you!" Donald shouted.

" Thunder!" Donald exclaimed as a thunder bolt hit the heartless. Ed had tried another go at the monster, and was successful, as he had destroyed both of the heartless feet, causing green balls to fall out of it and land on Ed, causing Ed's injuries to be healed. Ed had next destroyed the hands, and then went after the head. Double D and Eddy helped destroy the head, as well as Donald and Goofy, with Sora protecting Nazz from any damage, seeing as she was defenceless. The Eds and Sora had combined their Keyblade strikes on the monster, ultimately killing it, as the whole group except for Nazz sat on the floor. Nazz was absolutely left speechless, she had never seen the Eds fight like that, she thought ' If the Eds can fight like that, imagine what Alex could do.'. She cheered the Eds for the victory, as Eddy had stood up and smiled boastfully.

" All in a days work!" Eddy shouted.

" As if you did anything..." A voice said. Eddy was about to tell the person off, but when he turned around and saw Leon, he kept his mouth shut.

" Great work, but why did the boy with one eyebrow have to weaken it?" Leon asked.

xxxx

Alex was in a strange world, he didn't have control over the heartless, but he knew how to wield the darkness, and could destroy anything with it. Alex kept on floating down, until he landed on the ground, though as soon as he did, heartless had appeared around him, some were small, some were large, and some could fly. Alex looked at them all with a cocky grin and brandished his sword, as he got into a stance similar to Riku's, except he used his right arm to wield his weapon. Suddenly he dashed at one of the large heartless, as a slash was heard...

xxxx

" Well, you see-" That was all Sora could manage, as he was interrupted by Leon.

" Never mind, I'm glad to see that you're okay." Leon said. Yuffie and Aerith had walked to Leon as they stood at each side of him.

" Looks like those two need help to find their king." Yuffie said as she pointed towards Donald and Goofy.

" And you five need to find your friends." Leon said, pointing towards the Eds and Nazz.

" That's the problem, how will we find our friends?" Double D asked.

" We could help find your friends." Donald said. Goofy had given Donald a funny look.

" You sure Donald?" Goofy whispered. Donald had shushed Goofy, as Ed had immediately rushed towards Donald and Goofy.

" Ed, what are you doing?" Nazz asked.

" We must traverse with them to find our friend!" Ed exclaimed. Eddy had walked to Ed as well.

" I guess going with them couldn't hurt..." Eddy said. Double D had walked forward, leaving Nazz behind.

" You coming Nazz?" Double D asked.

" How can I? I don't have a weapon." Nazz said. Leon had walked off to a shop, and came out a second later with a sword that had the colour white. It looked like it was in similar design to Alex and Riku's swords, but there was an odd aura surrounding it.

" Here." Leon said. Nazz took it and grasped it in one hand.

" Is it heavy?" Double D asked.

" No, light as a feather." Nazz said. Nazz looked at the group of Donald, Goofy, Ed, Eddy and Double D. Sora was still unsure.

" Well, what if i can't find them?" Sora asked. Sora had then frowned, as Donald had given Sora a stern look.

" Ah ah ah, this boat runs on happy faces." Donald said.

" You gotta smile, like this." Goofy said as he made a goofy smile. Sora had looked at the two with an unsure look, closed his eyes, and then smiled awkwardly. Donald and Goofy laughed at him, causing the Eds and Nazz to laugh at him to. Sora had smiled normally, as he rubbed the back of his head bashfully.

" Alright, I'll go with you." Sora said.

xxxx

The Eds, Goofy, Donald, Nazz and Sora were in the town square, as Donald and Goofy were teaching them about abilities and magic.

" Ed, you will get the ability, ''Guard''." Donald said as he gave Ed an orange sphere.

" Sora, you get ''Dodge roll''." Goofy said as he gave Sora a blue sphere.

" Eddy, you get ''Strike raid''." Donald said as he gave Eddy a purple sphere.

" Double D gets ''Ragnarok''." Goofy said as he gave Double D a green sphere.

" Sorry Nazz, we couldn't find any abilities for ya." Goofy said.

" That's okay, as long as i have something to defend myself with, I'll be fine." Nazz said. Donald and Goofy had nodded. Donald had handed out fire spells to the Eds, Nazz and Sora. Donald and Goofy had walked towards the large double doors, with the five children looking at the two with funny looks.

" How will we get around?" Sora asked.

" By our gummi." Goofy said.

" You travel around using a certain candy?" Double D asked. Donald and Goofy had shook their heads as they laughed.

" Come on, lets show ya." Goofy offered.

xxxx

Sora, Nazz and the Eds were inside the gummi ship that Donald and Goofy had talked about. It was pretty large, big enough to fit eight people, not including the cockpit. The five had looked around and awed at the masterpiece, it had a red interior, with fluffy chairs, and two single beds for resting.

" Nice place you got here!" Eddy shouted as he jumped on a chair.

" Snazzy!" Nazz exclaimed as she had sat on the bed.

" Cool!" Ed bolted happily. Double D and Sora were speechless, as Goofy and Donald snapped them out of their trance.

" We have found coordinates and ended up finding a place called Wonderland." Donald said.

" We will arrive in about, 20 minutes if possible." Goofy said.

" So sit on your seats and fasten your seatbelts..." Donald said as he sat on the chair in the cockpit.

" Because its gonna be a bumpy ride!" Goofy said as he sat in the drivers seat, fired the ignition, and started the ship forward, as the ship had driven at light speeds. The Eds, Sora and Nazz were shocked at the speed of the gummi ship, but more shocked as they looked out of the window.

" What... no it can't be..." Double D muttered.

" But... how?" Nazz asked.

" Whoa..." Ed uttered.

" Huh?" Eddy asked.

" Are we in..." Sora trailed off.

" We're in SPACE!?" The five asked. They had seen an environment that resembled space, except it had strange coloured rocks, and was very colourful. There were ships coming towards them, but Donald destroyed them using his machine gun rays. They noticed they were near a planet that had the same shaped as the Earth, but saw strange things coming from it, they also saw a black gummi ship at the top of it, however, they didn't know who's it was.

" Who's gummi is that Goofy?" Donald asked.

" I don't know, I've never seen it before." Goofy said as he shuddered. Eddy had walked to the two.

" Come on lets go!" Eddy shouted impatiently. Donald looked at Eddy with an irate stare.

" Hold your horses!" Donald shouted.

" We're landing!" Goofy shouted.

xxxx

The Eds, Donald, Goofy, Sora and Nazz were floating down this strange hole, as they landed in a strange area, Nazz, Goofy and Ed landing on their faces while Double D, Donald, Eddy and Sora had landed on their feet. They looked around the place before being confused.

" What is this place?" Eddy asked.

" Wonderland!" Goofy answered.

" Lets go, we might find Alex here!" Nazz shouted. Double D looked at Nazz.

" Speaking of Alex, who was that gummi ship, I remember Alex being very fond of black..." Double D muttered.

" Alex driving? Pfft, yeah right." Eddy said jokingly.

" Your right Eddy... for once." Double D muttered.

" Hey!" Eddy shouted.

" Lets go." Donald said. Everyone nodded as they followed the duck to a door, which opened to reveal many other doors, as they entered through.

xxxx

" Check out this place!" Eddy shouted. Everyone looked around the room, it looked like a bedroom, kitchen and living room packed together. Double D noticed two potions on a table, and also a strand of hair.

" Oh, what's this?" Double D asked as he picked up the hair. The hair was black, as Double D had put it in a plastic wallet so he could examine it later. Eddy walked up to Double D. 

" Hey Double D, if Alex was here, how would he get here?" Eddy asked.

" I don't know Eddy, to be honest, he could be anywhere." Double D answered.

" I hope he doesn't lead us on some wild goose chase." Eddy said. Double D had shook his head as he walked to a door that looked like it was sleeping. Double D tried opening it, but the door yawned, causing Double D to jump back from the amount of shock.

" It talks!?" Double D asked.

" Of course, you just woke me up!" The door exclaimed.

" Good morning!" Ed shouted.

" Good night, I'm going back to sleep." The door said.

" How do we get past?" Double D asked.

" The shrinking potion on the table." The door answered. Double D looked at one of the potions, Ed had drank one, and he ended up the size of a giant, as he was as taller than the roof. 'Twit' Double D thought. Ed drank the other potion, as he had shrunk to the size of a pea, as did the others except for Double D, who pushed the bed to one side so they could go through the hole in the wall. Double D had drank the shrinking potion, as he had followed the rest of the group through the dark hole.

TBC...


	4. Fatal Surprise

Kingdom Eds: Rise of Darkness

Chapter 4: Fatal Surprise

As Sora, Donald, Goofy, Nazz and the Eds had entered through the doorway, they had noticed something completely different from what they were used to. First of all they noticed that they were in a forest just outside of a castle, but what was more strange was the fact that everything didn't seem real, in fact it looked like something you would find out of a playhouse or something. The group had pondered on their situation, wondering what to do next before making any sort of advancement.

"Hmm, I wonder what, or who could be in that castle..." Double D muttered. Eddy had looked at him funny, as did the rest of the group.

"And why do you say that sockhead?" Eddy asked.

"Well Eddy, we don't know what or who could be in there, we could go in the castle and find ourselves being confronted by a monster, or the inhabitants could be more or less friendly. I am not risking our chances of finding Alex by acting on impulse." Double D answered. Eddy had just growled, not seeing much sense in talking to his sock wearing friend.

"Oh yeah!? Ed, what do you think?" Eddy asked. Everyone had looked had Ed expecting an answer, although this made him feel more uncomfortable.

"I dunno." Ed replied.

"What do ya mean you dunno!?" Eddy shouted.

"Honest Eddy I dunno!" Ed exclaimed.

"That's enough guys! We aren't making any progress at all, I say we go with what Eddy says and go in the castle." Sora said. Everyone except Double D had nodded, who just grumbled under his breath.

The gang were nearing the castle now, noticing that they hadn't faced any kind of heartless yet at all. This began to worry the group slightly, in fear of a trap but they decided to not get distracted by their feeling and decided to keep on moving. On the way, Donald and Goofy were having a conversation between themselves.

"Donald, are you sure you don't know who that black gummi belongs to?" Goofy asked.

"No, I'm sure of it. Why?" Donald asked. Goofy had sighed slightly.

"Well, it looked kinda out of place and was a spooky sight Donald, there are no designs of gummi ships like that anywhere, and it had the heartless insignia on it as well!" Goofy said loudly.

"What!? Why didn't you tell me it had the heartless insignia on it Goofy!?" Donald asked.

"Well, I thought you would be mad!" Goofy answered nervously.

"I'm not mad Goofy, I'm furious!" Donald shouted as he began to quack and squawk violently. The rest of the group had looked behind them with alarmed looks on their faces, wondering what the two were chattering on about.

"What's up dudes?" Nazz asked.

"We figured that someone who is related to the heartless maybe on this world!" Donald answered.

"No fooling?" Eddy asked.

"No fooling." Donald replied. The group had slightly shuddered, but they had then immediately dismissed it and had continued on their way to the castle.

xxx

They had finally reached the castle and were looking at what seemed to be a trail going on. They saw a rather large woman wearing a crown and royal clothing, a rabbit wearing posh clothing and guards in the shape of playing cards. They also saw a girl wear a blue dress. From where they were standing, it seemed that the queen was the judge and the girl was the defendant.

" Are you guilty of trying to steal my heart young girl?" The queen asked.

" No, I certainly am not!" The girl replied.

" Do you have any proof, girl?" The queen asked with wry smile.

" Uh... Well no, I don't... But just because you're queen doesn't mean you have to be so... so mean!" The girl answered back. The queen had screamed in anger, her face literally turning beet red.

" OFF! OFF WITH HER HEAD!" The queen shouted. Sora and Ed had immediately decided to take off, rushing towards the court at a high speed. Everyone tried to catch the two but they were too fast for them.

" Wait, you can't do that!" Sora shouted.

" Yeah, you need a very sharp axe!" Ed exclaimed. Sora had looked at Ed.

" That's not what I meant Ed." Sora explained.

" Silence! Off with your head, in fact, off with all of your heads!" The queen shouted with a mighty fury. Now everyone had intervened, trying to attempt to save their friend's heads being butchered.

" What if we help you find the dude who tried to steal your heart, your majesty?" Nazz asked. The queen had scoffed, and proceeded to laugh at Nazz with a nasty cackle afterwords. This caused the cards to laugh nervously too.

" Ha, flattery will get you nowhere dear!" The queen replied.

" What if we find clues leading to the suspect, and if we fail then you can chop off all of our heads?" Goofy insisted. Everyone, even Ed, had gasped.

" Okay then, but one hour, and I mean ONE HOUR!" The queen bellowed greatly. The group had marched out to another nearby forest, setting out to complete the task at hand with some fear in their hearts...

xxx

" This is all your fault you big lummox!" Donald had screamed, strangling Goofy's neck with a vice grip. The group could then hear laughing, looking at the source of it. The found what appeared to be a cat's head on a large tree stump, this confused them greatly, as they wondered why a cat could laugh if it only had a head and no body. Their questions were quickly answered as the cat's body had magically reappeared once again, with the cat letting out a small chuckle.

" Don't let trickery or mimicry fool you, and to your heart you must stay true." The cat riddled. Everyone except Double D were confused.

" You mean don't be fooled by illusions, and always trust yourself!" Double D answered. The cat had raised an eyebrow at him, before letting out his large, Cheshire cat smile.

" You catch on quickly, you're very bright but are you ready for a surprising sight?" The Cheshire cat asked. Eddy had growled slightly, as did Donald. They were tired of playing games, and decided to get answers to the questions they wanted to ask.

" Hey, tell us where we can find the clues!" Eddy and Donald demanded simultaneously. The Cheshire cat had just smiled once again, before deciding to answer.

" Just follow the path, that I am sure, then you will find what you are looking for." After the cat said his cryptic message to the two, he disappeared slowly while chuckling lowly. Eddy and Donald were annoyed, while the rest were puzzled.

" Well, that didn't really amount to anything..." Double D said. Ed had stared at the ground, searching for something.

" You know, this place is starting to bug me, what do you think Ed? Ed?... Ed!?" Eddy shouted. He saw Ed looking at the ground and began to gear up to slap him, but before he could Ed had dropped to the ground the get a closer look.

" Do ya see that guys?" Ed asked, pointing at the ground. Eddy, Double D, Nazz, Sora, Donald and Goofy had looked to where Ed was looking, trying to look for what Ed was looking for.

" Look, a boot mark!" Ed had pointed at. The group had huddled around each other and stared into the ground, and had noticed the foot print. It looked slightly smaller that Ed's foot size, but bigger than Eddy or Double D's.

" Do ya know what this means?" Eddy asked. Ed had nodded dumbly.

" Yep, it was a foot." Ed replied. Eddy had slapped Ed hard on the head.

" No you idiot, I mean this could lead us to the culprit!" Eddy exclaimed.

" My word, Eddy is right! Let's follow the trail while it's still hot!" Double D shouted. As soon as he did that however, he was confronted by a few heartless. Two he had seen before but one looked quite peculiar, it seemed to be a very large creature, wearing a tin hat on its head and wearing patched up clothing and to finish it off, it had a large heartless insignia on its belly. Ed had rushed at the beast and smashed the monster in the stomach, but the force of his attack caused him the be propelled backwards.

" Whoa! Mushy belly!" Ed shouted. Sora and Eddy had taken care of one heartless on the left, while Double D, Goofy and Donald had taken care of the heartless on the right. Nazz was left to face the large heartless, quivering at the sheer sight of the beast. It looked at her hungrily with small yellow eyes, until Ed had jumped in front of it.

" Stop, beastly belly monster!" Ed shouted, getting into a defensive stance. It was just Ed and the monster, facing each other. The two had rushed at each other, but when the two met, Ed was flung back a few feet as he landed on his back. Nazz had dug her sword into the monster's back however, looking at it with an angry look.

" That was not nice dude!" Nazz shouted. The beast had glowed with a purple aura as it had shaken Nazz off like a leaf. She landed on her backside while rubbing her head.

" Ouch!" Nazz screamed. She tried to fix her messed hair, failing as she did so.

" You ruined my hair, no one ruins my hair and gets away with it!" Nazz shouted. She began to glow a radiant white, gritting her teeth as she looked at the monster. It glowed a purple aura still, manifested by rage. The others had just looked on, surprised by Nazz's show of power. The monster had rushed at Nazz, but this proved fatal as Nazz had hit the monstrous being with an invisible energy attack. The beast was sent back a few yards, screeching in pain all the while. Nazz had then rushed at the monster at a very high speed, before miraculously slashing the monster's belly open. Darkness had just flowed out, before the monster just dissipated. Nazz had then fell on the ground on her bottom, panting heavily. The others were more enthusiastic.

" Whoo hoo! Yeah, Nazz!" Ed had shouted.

" Bravo Nazz, excellent show of power if I do say so myself!" Double D said. They kept on cheering Nazz, until they had decided to carry on their objective.

xxx

The footprints had led to a flower, with the group looking at it with confusion.

" We were led to a flower? A stinkin' flower!?" Eddy asked.

" Give me a potion and I will make you taller!" A voice said. Eddy looked at Ed, assuming he said it.

" Stop messing with me lumpy!" Eddy growled.

" Honest Eddy, it wasn't me!" Ed shouted.

" He is right, it was I, the flower!" Eddy turned to the flower.

" You?" Eddy asked.

" Yes, who else could it be?" The flower asked. Eddy had just growled while the rest had laughed at him.

" Did you see anyone else here?" Double D asked.

" Did they have long, silver hair?" Sora asked.

" And are they a jerk?" Eddy asked, apparently talking about Alex. The kids from the cul-de-sac had slapped him one, before allowing the flower to answer.

" No silver haired person, but there was someone wearing black, very young, about your age." The flower answered. Everyone nodded and waisted no time giving the flower a potion. Double D was made larger, showing signs of surprise on his face.

" How's the weather up there sockhead?" Eddy asked mockingly. Double D had then stepped on the stup, before eating to plum to make himself smaller. He then followed everyone else as they were keen on finding the path to Alex. They were near a place full of chairs and a table, but it looked deserted. They almost walked out before Ed sat on a chair.

" Cool!" Ed said. Everyone shrugged, what could possibly happen? They all sat on the chairs, one by one before the chairs had fell backwards and kicked them off their seats. When this happened there was a loud thud.

" Ed you idiot!" Eddy exclaimed. However Eddy was soon to look like an idiot, as rare items like elixirs, mega potions and mega ethers had dropped from the ceiling like sky. Double D had picked them all up and put them in his pouch.

"Let's carry on fellows, if we want to find more clues." Double D said. Everyone had left the area and began to backtrack. They began going up the branches of the trees and onto higher ground. It seemed that the world they were in gave them increased abilities. They went through a small hole through the wall, as it seemed that they were in a familiar place.

" Hey, weren't we just here guys?" Goofy asked.

" We were, it seems that the physics of this world has made it so that we think are placed in a different location. Intriguing!" Double D said.

" Intriguing!" Eddy mimicked.

" I say we find all those clues fast!" Eddy exclaimed. Everyone had nodded. The cat had once again appeared before them.

" To find what you're looking for, you must restore light." The cat said. He then disappeared, leaving the group. Double D had gotten out his keyblade and casted fire spells at the candles, lighting them. Suddenly, a footprint had lead to a certain path, back to the court.

" Alright fellows, it seems that we have found all of the clues, let's go!" Double D said. Everyone nodded as they had jumped down the hole

xxx

As the group had landed in front of the queen, they saw a cloaked figure about the same size as the Eds talking to the queen.

" And do you know who tried to steal my heart?" The queen asked.

" Yeah..." The figure replied. 'Hey, that guy sounds familiar' Eddy thought to himself.

" And who, may I ask committed this dastardly deed?" The queen asked. The cloaked figure removed his hood, revealing to be a friend of the kids of the cul-de-sac...

" Alex?!" The kids shouted. He looked behind him to see his friends, Nazz, Double D, Ed and Eddy. And some others he didn't know, like Donald, Goofy and Sora.

" Guys!?" Alex asked surprised. The cul-de-sac kids reunited in a group hug.

" Well answer me!" The queen shouted. Alex had stared at the queen.

" It was the heartless!" Alex shouted. The queen had tutted while shaking her head.

" Such lies! I shall have all of your heads!" The queen bellowed as she locked Alice's prison. A massive construct with levers had appeared out of the ground and the queen's guards had began attacking.

" Lets get ready to rumble!" Eddy shouted as he got out his keyblade. Everyone else got out their weapons, including Alex. Instead of it being like Riku's weapon, Alex's was a black longsword with a black handle. He held it in two hands, and was in a fighting stance.

" Whoa, where did you get that?" Double D asked. Alex smirked towards his sock-hatted friend.

" Let's just say I, "acquired it"." Alex replied. The battle had then begun as the party got into position. Alex slashed a few of the cards with his sword, each strike containing tremendous power. Ed wasn't far off either. He knocked a few of them down himself. Eddy and Double D had decided that they would double team the guards as Edd would knock them in the air and Eddy would knock them back down. Donald would blast them with magic, Goofy would bash them with his shield and Nazz and Sora kept some of the guards at bay. However no matter how many guards were brought down, more would keep coming.

" What does that structure do?" Double asked. He hit the lever with his keyblade, unlocking one of the locks on Alice's cage.

" Everyone, focus your attacks on this structure!" Double D commanded. Everyone followed his order as the brought their weapons against it, while Alex would fend off the guards. When the structure was completely destroyed, the guards had halted their advancement as they suddenly realised that Alice had gone. The queen was distracted by this, as she was red in the face, clearly angry at this outcome. Taking this chance, the group had escaped back into the place they first started in.

xxx

They were pooped out, literally as they were all either sitting or lying on the floor, exhausted from their battle. Finally, after a moment of silence, Eddy had decided to speak.

" So Alex, how exactly did you get here anyway?" Eddy asked. Alex had looked at Eddy, before smirking.

" By Gummi Ship, of course." Alex replied. Donald and Goofy had glanced at Alex suscpiciously.

" Was it black?" Donald asked. Alex nodded, slowly though as he noticed that Donald and Goofy were starting to get nervous.

" And did it have the heartless emblem?" Goofy asked. Alex hung his head and had then nodded afterwards. Everyone gasped, although Alex raised his arms in defence.

" Hey! I just found that thing lying around!" Alex exclaimed.

" Oh, so you just happened to steal it? You must be in league with the heartless." Donald retorted. Alex had frowned at the duck, before staring at his friends.

" Guys, you don't honestly believe I am a heartless... Right?" Alex asked. The fellow kids of the cul-de-sac had to think for a moment, they couldn't believe that their friend would be in league with the heartless, but at this point they weren't surprised by anything.

" Come on! I'm your friend!" Alex shouted.

" I believe you Alex." Everyone looked at Ed, who made the comment. He sat next to Alex and put an arm around his neck.

" He is our friend, he doesn't need to lie to us." Ed said. Everyone was surprised, including Alex. It was deep, even for Ed.

" Okay, fine... We won't believe you're a heartless for now, but if you double cross us..." Donald finished off making a gesture towards Alex. He just nodded.

" So Alex, have you seen the others?" Double D asked.

" Yeah, have you seen Kevin, Rolf, Jonny, Sarah and Jimmy?" Nazz asked.

" I'm afraid not guys, but we may find them in the next place..." Alex replied. They looked at him oddly.

" The next place?" Eddy asked. Alex nodded.

" Yeah, there are other worlds as well." Alex answered. " I saw this place called the Olympic Coliseum while in that gummi ship, and it said it would be the best place to go to after wonderland."

" Really?" Double D asked.

" Yeah, I also saw this other place that looked like a jungle but we could go there after the Coliseum." Alex replied. The group nodded. There was a short silence, before Alex begun to strike up another conversation.

" So Nazz, where did you get that weapon from anyway?" Alex asked. She got out her white sword before inspecting it closely.

" I got it from this guy called Leon, why?" Nazz questioned. Alex had opened his mouth to answer her question, but decided to give her another answer.

" Just asking." Alex replied. The group just began to talk with each other, until Eddy decided to get out of Wonderland. So the party had jumped onto the table, only to find the Cheshire cat.

" Huh? What do you want now?" Eddy asked. The cat just smiled.

" This is where the culprit is, are you ready?" The cat asked. Suddenly it disappeared and a massive heartless came. It looked harmless but with its matchsticks it could be a fearsome foe.

" Attack!" Sora shouted. And the battle commenced, with Sora running towards the heartless. He jumped up in the air to strike it in the face but it counter-attacked by swatting him away with its matchsticks. Sora was stunned but wasn't hurt too badly. It was Ed's turn now, as he did the same as Sora. However he didn't want to hit it on the head, in fact he landed on it, bashing its skull with his keyblade.

" Go on Ed! Give him the old one two!" Eddy shouted. The heartless was trying hard to hit Ed, but was failing. Nazz then jumped in the air and slashed its face, before landing on the ground next to Sora. But then, Double D had cast some fire magic. Remember those matchsticks? Well it seems that when you cast fire the matchsticks get on fire, and it began to whack those on the table. Alex, Eddy, Donald and Goofy were able to dodge the attack but Double D wasn't as lucky. He was scorched by the attack and was sent flying.

" Eddy, Donald and Goofy, go tend to Double D!" Alex shouted " Ed, keep wailing on him, Nazz and Sora, hit its legs!" They all nodded knowing what to do. ' I hope this works...' Alex thought as he looked like he was powering up. He put his longsword on his holster as he cupped his hands together. A dark energy was building up in his hands, it looked like fire but darkened. When Alex had finally gathered enough energy, he had let loose with the attack.

" Darkness... Fire!" Alex shouted as a beam of darkness had fired out of Alex's hand and into the face of the heartless. This knocked the heartless flat on its back, stunning it. For the finishing blow, Alex got out his longsword and jumped high in the air, landing on the heartless with his sword piercing its face. It then exploded into a ray of light, leaving nothing behind. Alex stood up and put the sword on his back, and had done a victory jig. Meanwhile, everyone else looked at Alex with a surprised look.

" Cool! How did ya do that!?" Ed asked, his eyes as wide as dinner plates. Alex had smiled, a cocky grin on his face.

" Well, I used the power of darkness and kicked that monster's butt!" Alex replied. Donald then ran up to Alex.

" The power of darkness!? But only heartless and really evil people use that!" Donald bellowed, pointing an accusing finger at Alex. He just crossed his arms.

" So? I saved you guys from getting killed using the power of darkness, does that make me a heartless or really evil?" Alex asked rhetorically, eye to eye with Donald.

" He's got a point Donald." Goofy said. Donald just grumbled.

"Yeah yeah..." Donald muttered. "Sorry, I just got carried away." Alex just smirked at him.

"No problem, I'd probably do the same thing too." Alex replied. Suddenly, Sora's keyblade had appeared and pointed at the sleeping door's keyhole. A small beam of light had came out of Sora's keyblade, before a little click was heard.

" What was that?" Alex asked. Sora then looked at him.

" I think I locked it." Sora answered. Suddenly an item shot out of it as Eddy picked it up.

" I'll keep it for later." Eddy said. And with that, the guys and one girl had drank the growing potion and returned to the gummi ship, where they would head to their next destination... The Olympic Coliseum, meanwhile...

xxx

" Hey, it seems that kid has weaselled his way into their group!" A voice shrouded in darkness shouted, before laughing hoarsely.

" Hmm, it seems that there are more keyblade wielders than we thought..." Another muttered.

" Hey, I've got an idea, how about we turn them into heartless?" A female, shrill voice laughed out.

" And our scapegoat, oops, I mean Riku?" A voice asked. " Will he reveal our plan and that they have a mole in the ranks?"

" We'll see if they will fight the darkness and conquer it, or if it will swallow them." Maleficent's voice said, before all of the villains started cackling evilly.

(author's note: Sorry for taking so long, I was becoming too busy with homework and also had writers block, hope I didn't cause any inconveniece)


	5. The Edlympics

Kingdom Eds: Rise of Darkness

Chapter 5: The Edlympics

As the gummi ship had headed for its new course, the Olympic Coliseum, the kids of the cul-de-sac were talking to each other about their home and their friends, and what they did.

"Well Sora, we would usually scam the cul-de-sac out of their money, but I wouldn't have any part in it." Alex said smugly. Eddy growled at him.

"What!? Most of them scams were your ideas too ya know!" Eddy shouted. Alex had shaken his head at Eddy.

"Yes Alex, you must not forget that sewer water incident. You almost flooded the cul-de-sac you know." Double D lectured. Alex just smirked at his sock-hat wearing friend.

"Well if you guys had read my instructions properly we would have filtered that water successfully, besides you went ahead with the plan even though I said it was risky." Alex challenged. Ed had put on his dopey smile.

"What about the mole mutants?" Ed asked dumbly. Alex had looked at Ed.

"I'm looking at one right now." Alex sneered. Nazz had frowned at the insult, as did Double D. But Eddy seemed to be laughing his socks off.

"Oh man! Ooh Alex, I'm busting' a gut!" Eddy shouted laughing. Nazz and Double D however had thought differently.

"That was mean Alex! You shouldn't have said that!" Nazz exclaimed. Sora was chuckling, but when Nazz gave him the evil eye and the death glare he immediately shut up. Alex had put his arms up in defence at the glaring Nazz.

"Okay, I'm sorry Ed." Alex said. "But it's still true!" Eddy started laughing loudly and joined by Sora and surprisingly, Ed.

"Alex!" Nazz threatened, grabbing him by his collar.

"Keep it down; we're trying to find the Olympic Coliseum!" Donald shouted. The group started to quieten down, as they whispered to themselves. The ship had rocked left and right a bit, like an earthquake had happened.

"Sorry, we crashed through a meteor!" Goofy exclaimed. A few minutes had passed and the gummi ship had suddenly stopped.

"Hey, what's the hold-up?!" Eddy asked irately.

"We're at the Olympic Coliseum!" Donald answered. The party had gotten out of the gummi ship and walked inside. It was the entrance to the Coliseum inside but it looked pretty nice. There was some Greek architecture, such as the pillars. The floor was filled with sand and the sky was blue and barely cloudy.

"Cool..." Ed muttered. Eddy jogged forward as he beckoned towards the group.

"Come on guys!" Eddy shouted rudely. The party just followed Eddy inside. It was particularly small; a short half-goat half-man was looking at a trophy case. Hearing the doors open, he ordered the group to move the square shaped rock. They tried to move it but it was too heavy.

"The thing's too darn heavy!" Eddy shouted.

"What!? Too heavy!?" The goat man asked. He turned to find Eddy, and looked rather disappointed.

"Oh... You're a shrimp!" He exclaimed. Eddy had growled at him.

"You're one to talk." Alex said. The goat man had stared at Alex, raising an eyebrow at him.

"What's it to ya kid?" He asked.

"We want to get into the games kind sir." Double D requested. The goat man had laughed, as if amused by Double D. Nazz, of course, was less than amused.

"Why won't you let us in!?" Nazz asked furiously.

"Two Words: You guys aren't heroes!" He replied.

"That's four words you moron." Alex said, insulting the goat man. He didn't look like he was amused by Alex's insult.

"Okay, if you guys are heroes... I wanna see a sparring match between your best fighters. If I'm impressed, I may consider training ya but if I ain't, four words: You're Outta Here!" He shouted. Alex had nodded in agreement.

"Alright, Ed... You and me!" Alex challenged. Ed had nodded, following the goat man and Alex in the arena. The others did so as well.

xxx

The ones who weren't fighting were sitting on the seats in the arena, including a spiky blond haired man. Alex had gotten his long sword out and got into a fighting position, Ed did the same with his keyblade.

"Alright, 1 2 3 go!" The goat man shouted as he got out of the arena. A force field was created around the ring.

"Go on lumpy, you can do it!" Eddy shouted. The fight begun, Alex had charged at Ed with his sword in both hands. Ed had dashed towards Alex with keyblade in one hand. The two's weapons had clashed, a struggle of power between the two. Alex had smirked at Ed.

"Hey, you got better." Alex muttered. He then spun around, breaking the struggle and slashed Ed across the face with his sword, sending him backwards quite a bit.

"Ed! You okay!?" Eddy asked, worried for his friend. Ed had got up and drank a potion, healing his wound. He then ran at Alex in a zigzag pattern, hoping to confuse him. Alex stood ground, placing his sword on his shoulder. His sword was glowing with dark energy.

"Blade Beam!" Alex shouted as he slammed his sword on the ground. A beam of darkness came firing at Ed, who jumped straight over it.

"Alex! What are you doing!?" Double D asked with concern. The blond haired man was also surprised, that was one of his attacks. Alex had dashed towards Ed and slashed at him twice quickly, although Ed blocked both attacks. Alex had then jumped in the air with his sword high in the air, hoping to catch Ed off guard.

"Eat this!" Alex shouted. Ed had cast fire into Alex's face, and had rolled out of the way before Alex could hit him again. Alex had run at Ed with full speed, swinging his blade at Ed 8 times, which Ed had blocked, each and every one of them. The two were evenly matched. Suddenly, Ed had run at Alex and smashed his head with his keyblade. Stunning Alex, he then smashed his keyblade into Alex's side, winding him. And for the finishing blow had struck Alex upside his chin, sending him flying in the air. Alex wasn't finished; he rolled backwards on the ground and regained his position.

"Is that all?" Alex asked mockingly. Alex had walked slowly walked towards Ed, still retaining his posture. Ed had ran at Alex, hoping to catch him off guard however, Alex had dodged Ed's attack as if it was nothing. Ed slashed again but Alex had back flipped. Ed slashed one more time but his attack was parried by Alex. Alex took this chance to hit Ed with another attack. He hit Ed so hard with his sword he was sent flying into the air.

"Ragnarok!" Alex had shouted, jumping up into the air as he had sliced at Ed a couple of times, before sending a couple of energy beams at him. The two had landed on the ground, although Ed landed face first while Alex landed on his feet.

"That's it, the fights over!" The goat-man announced. The cul-de-sac kids, Donald, Goofy and Sora had run to the arena to tend to the fallen Ed. Nazz had glared at Alex angrily.

"Why did you do that dude!? That wasn't nice!" Nazz shouted. Ed had stirred a bit before regaining consciousness.

"Ed, how are ya feelin' big guy?" Eddy asked. Ed had smiled his usual dopey smile.

"Buttered Toast!" Ed shouted.

"Yep, he's fine." Eddy said. However Eddy had gotten up and walked towards Alex.

"You idiot, did you HAVE to go all out on him!?" Eddy questioned, poking Alex in the chest as he did so. Alex looked speechless, he could have killed Ed back there but he didn't. He was astonished, that final attack should have killed even the strongest of heartless but Ed had survived it? However, Alex had noticed that Eddy was talking to him and poking his chest.

"Sorry." Alex replied simply.

"What!?" Nazz bellowed "**You almost kill your own friend and all you can say is "sorry"**!?" Alex was feeling guilty, sweat dropping down his face. He looked around, no one was happy with him, not even the goat-man. He put his head down, ashamed. Alex had then walked out of the arena, with his head still down.

"Nazz, don't you think that was a bit too much?" Double D asked. Nazz had calmed down a bit, but was still a bit angry.

"He deserved it Double D!" Nazz answered.

"But I'm okay Nazz, what's wrong?" Ed asked. Nazz had breathed out deeply, being once again calm.

"What if you weren't alive after that attack Ed, you were lucky you survived... Those hits looked like they hurt, especially that fall on your head." Nazz answered. Ed, still with his dopey grin had stood up.

"Don't worry, I, Lothor will never expire! Just like my lucky cheese, Sheldon!" Ed shouted. He then got his lucky cheese out of his pocket, releasing a pungent smell.

"Phew Ed! I thought I got rid of that stupid cheese!" Eddy shouted. Double D had looked like a ghost.

"Get rid of that cheese now Ed!" Double D commanded. Ed put the cheese in his pocket. The goat-man finally was ready to speak.

"Well, not bad kid. After surviving that I'm sure you're ready for the games." He said.

"Really?" Ed asked. He nodded.

"But you need a pass, but since you ain't got one... scram!" He shouted, kicking them all out of the arena.

xxx

Alex was sitting on one of the steps on the entrance, his head down on the ground. 'What if I... killed Ed?' Alex thought. 'Would they hold me responsible, a liability? Maleficent said I need their trust, what will happen if I lose it?' He saw the party walk towards him.

"Um, Alex, I'm sorry about last time." Nazz apologised. Alex had shaken his head as he stood up.

"No, you don't need to apologise, it was my fault I mean, and I could have hurt the big lug badly right?" Alex asked. He then looked at Ed with a sorry expression on his face.

"I'm sorry Ed, I got carried away." Alex said.

"It's okay, as long as I have my lucky cheese and fish bones, I will be A Okay!" Ed shouted. Alex had smirked.

"Alright then, let's get outta here." Alex said. However, before they could go anywhere, a weird looking person had popped out of nowhere in front of Alex. He looked like he had a flame on his head and had blue skin. He wore black Greek robes.

"Hey kid, he's a stubborn old goat eh?" He asked.

"Who the heck are you!?" Eddy questioned, looking at him suspiciously.

"You don't need to know that, what you need to know is that you need those passes to fight right?" He asked again.

"Yeah, but we don't have one. In fact we were just leaving." Alex told him. The flame headed man had materialised some tickets into his hand.

"Look at this, courtesy of God of the Underworld." He said. "I'm rooting for ya you little Shorty" He then disappeared, leaving the gang to their own devices.

"Convenient." Double D muttered. "Too convenient..." Alex had just shrugged, as did everyone else.

"So? It means we can be in the games and become heroes!" Eddy shouted. "And just imagine the money we will make as well!" Double D had inspected the tickets carefully, before deciding to rain on Eddy's parade.

"Sorry to burst your bubble Eddy, but this ticket says that the tournament is a non-profitable event. Seems there is no monetary gain." Double D informed. Eddy raised an eyebrow at his brainy friend, so Alex decided to give an explanation.

"It means you get no money. Nothing. Nadda. Zip. Zero." Alex explained. Eddy was red in the face, displaying feelings of anger.

"That's stupid!" Eddy shouted. But now that they had tickets, they might as well enter the games. They went back inside to see the goat-man again, and showed him their tickets.

"Wha'? How did you get those?" He asked.

"Can we get in now?" Sora asked, ignoring his question.

"Sure, but be careful, there are some weirdoes who signed up! Plus, only a couple of you can go out at a time, so choose wisely." He said. The group had gotten into a huddle, as they began to choose who should go.

"Alex and Ed, Alex for his strength and technique and Ed for his durability." Double D deduced.

"I think Double D should go in, you know, because he is smart." Eddy said a nervous smile on his face.

"And Eddy, because he is quick!" Ed shouted. Eddy began sweating bullets, who knows what could be waiting for him in the arena.

"Nah, I might be too fast." Eddy said. Alex had smirked at Eddy.

"Oh, what Eddy? Are you a big chicken?" Alex asked, making chicken noises and gestures. Eddy had growled.

"Oink! Oink! I'm a big chicken like Eddy!" Ed shouted, flapping his arms like a chicken. The others had laughed, so much it hurt. Finally Eddy had snapped, hating being called a chicken.

"Fine!" Eddy shouted. So, Alex and the Eds entered the tournament. Their friends had cheered them on, from the chairs. The first round had some heartless, but there was a new addition, a blue, small heartless. It looked like it had a hat on its head.

"Looks harmless!" Eddy said, however he was hit across the face by an ice spell.

"Hey!" Eddy shouted. He ran up to the heartless and smashed it with his keyblade, causing it to dissipate. Alex had slashed the shadow heartless with his long sword, instant-killing it. Ed did the same with his keyblade. Double D was having trouble, he was getting ganged up on by two shadows heartless and a blue coloured heartless. He cast a fire spell on the blue heartless, melting it but was having trouble with the shadows. Suddenly, Alex and Ed destroyed the two heartless, ending the round.

"Too easy!" Eddy shouted.

"Says you dork!" A voice retorted. They turned around to see no one other than Kevin. He was wearing his usual clothes and was sitting on a bench next to Nazz. Kevin was smirking at Eddy, mockingly waving his hand.

"Hey Kevin!" Ed shouted, waving back. Alex raised an eyebrow 'He shouldn't be here; the darkness should have swallowed him whole... Wait a minute.' Alex thought.

"Kevin, how did you get-" Alex was interrupted by a soldier heartless kicking him in the face. He got up and slashed it in half with his long sword.

xxx

"So Nazz, how have you been?" Kevin asked. Nazz had smiled at him.

"I've been fine dude, what about you?" Nazz asked. Kevin had just smirked coolly at Nazz.

"I've been radical." Kevin replied.

"So Kev, where were you when Peach Creek got swallowed?" Nazz asked. Kevin had crossed his arms, trying to think.

"Uh, I can't really remember Nazz. After I got sucked up I was knocked out. And then I ended up in this dump!" Kevin replied. Nazz smiled sweetly at him.

"Do you have a weapon?" Nazz asked. Kevin stared at Nazz oddly.

"What?" He asked. Nazz had shaken her head.

"It's nothing dude." Nazz answered. Kevin and Nazz continued to talk to each other, as they watched the fight from above. They saw that Eddy had his hair on fire, before a heartless put it out with an ice spell.

"Ha ha! What a dork!" Kevin shouted. "Hey dorky, how about I give ya a knuckle sandwich after this is done?" Kevin asked. Eddy just raised his fist to him, before fighting the heartless again.

"That was mean Kevin, you shouldn't say those things." Nazz scolded. Kevin had put his hands up, a smirk plastered across his smug little face.

"Hey, I was only kidding around Nazz." Kevin said.

"Didn't sound like it." Sora interrupted. Kevin glared at Sora.

"And who are you, squirt?" Kevin asked. Sora had glared back at Kevin, not liking the red capped kid already.

"The name's Sora!" Sora said. Kevin had nodded, before watching the fight again. They were on round three, and it seemed like Alex and Ed were doing most, if not all of the work while Eddy and Double D were hardly trying.

"Hey, is that Alex?" Kevin asked "He seems to be a good fighter."

"Yeah that's Alex, you should have seen him fight Ed though, and he almost killed him!" Nazz exclaimed. Kevin looked at Nazz.

"What, fuzz top?" Kevin asked. "And Double Dork how's he?"

"He's fine; he has trouble fighting on his own but can come up with great double teams." Nazz replied. Kevin then looked next to Sora and found Donald and Goofy.

"What's up with the duck and the dog?" Kevin asked. Nazz looked at them both.

"I... Don't have a clue Kevin, let's get back to the fight, okay?" Nazz asked. Kevin nodded, and looked on the match with amusement.

"Come on dorky, I'm rooting' for ya!" Kevin exclaimed.

xxx

They were still on the fourth round now, but decided to have a break. They sat on one of the benches, with the rest of the group running towards them. Alex had glanced up at Kevin, a questioning look on his face.

"Kevin, how did you get here?" Alex asked.

"I dunno Alex; last thing I remember was getting sucked up before landing up here." Kevin replied. Alex had nodded.

"So you don't wield the power of darkness?" Alex asked. Kevin had given Alex a dodgy look.

"The power of what now?" Kevin asked. Alex had shaken his head.

"He doesn't have a weapon either." Nazz informed. Alex had nodded his head.

"I see..." Alex muttered. The spiky haired man had passed by the group, looking down on them as he did so.

"He looks tough..." Kevin whispered. The goat-man then appeared.

"It's time for the fourth round; get your lazy butts in gear!" He shouted. Alex and the Eds got into the arena and got ready to fight. There were shadow and soldier heartless, and red and blue small heartless.

"Alright, I'll take the soldiers, Ed; you take the blue ones, Eddy, take the red ones and Double D, take shadows!" Alex ordered.

"Yes sir!" The Eds responded, doing their jobs. Alex had encountered three soldiers heartless, a piece of cake for him. Alex had first of all rushed at the soldier on the right and slashed it in half, instant-killing it. Alex had then dodged a spinning kick from one of the soldiers, and destroyed the other soldier. Alex had then ran at the soldier and stylishly slashed it, taking it out. Ed had two of the blue ones to worry about, because they always bounced about. So Ed used his guard ability when one of them would cast an ice spell and smash it with his keyblade. He did this pattern with the two enemies and beat both.

"Hey Ed, this is easy huh?" Alex asked.

"You bet!" Ed replied. Eddy was actually faring better than Double D, bouncing back the attacks of the red heartless and bashing them away. He used his speed as an advantage, outrunning their fire attacks and hitting them with his keyblade. There were two left, Eddy slashed one of them swiftly, taking it out. He then saw the other one hiding behind Double D, but it was crushed by Ed. Double D's job was made easier, as he had all of his friends backing him up. The Eds had taken out all of the shadows together while Alex just looked on. 'Not Bad' Alex thought.

"Fifth round!" The goat-man, now known as Philoctetes or for short, Phil announced. There were just ten of the blue heartless, now known as blue rhapsodies. Alex had rushed at the two of them and slashed them both in half. Ed, with his might managed to crush four under his blade. Six heartless were already taken care of. Alex and the Eds took out one heartless each, with Alex slashing one in half, Ed crushing one, Eddy swiftly slashing one and Double D casting fire magic on it and then slashing it.

xxx

"Sixth round!" Phil shouted. Kevin was watching with wide eyes while the rest were analysing the match carefully.

"Alex and Ed are both strong, but Alex has more finesse while Ed is more of a powerhouse." Donald deduced. Kevin was trying to grasp all of this.

"I never knew that that dork could fight like that at all, ever!" Kevin exclaimed. Sora looked at Kevin with a smile.

"You should see Nazz, when she fights she puts them to shame!" Sora shouted. Kevin smirked at Sora.

"And what about you, what makes you so important?" Kevin asked, not in a mean way, surprisingly.

"I wield the keyblade." Sora said with a smile. Kevin had scoffed, not really impressed.

"So? Those dorks have key blades and Alex is sporting a gnarly looking sword there!" Kevin retorted. Sora had looked down on the ground, downtrodden.

"Well, if you put it that way..." Sora muttered. Nazz had given Kevin the evil eye.

"Kevin! Stop being mean to Sora!" Nazz shouted. Kevin, embarrassed had rubbed the top of his cap and had an embarrassed expression on his face.

"Sorry dude, just speaking my mind." Kevin apologised. They watched the match again as Nazz had made scrunched her face up, as she saw Alex chop the large body heartless in half.

"Ooh, now that's got to hurt!" Nazz exclaimed.

"Go one dudes, you can take them!" Kevin shouted, before realizing what he had said. "I mean come on you dorks!" 'Yeah, that's right' Kevin thought. When Alex had slashed the last heartless soldier, the round was over.

"Round 7!" Phil once again announced. The spiky haired man was standing across Alex and the Eds, brandishing his sword. It was of massive proportions, taller than Ed! It was bandaged but it still looked like it could be very sharp.

"Hey, that guy..." Kevin muttered. The man had rushed at Alex, taking him off guard. He knocked Alex back a bit, while stalking him.

"Hey, Jiminy, who's that?" Goofy asked. A cricket wearing a hat and a suit came out of his pocket and was looking into his book.

"Hmm, it says that he is Cloud Strife, an Ex-SOLDIER with a mysterious past. He wields the Buster sword." The cricket answered.

xxx

Ed had ran at Cloud with full speed, but before he could hit him Cloud had swung his sword at him and flung him in the air.

"Whoa!" Ed exclaimed. Ed had spun in the air a little and then landed face first on the ground, but had then got back up. He then began to run at him again, his keyblade in the air. He was going to hit Cloud across the head but he wasn't going to take any of that, so he sent Ed back a few yards with his slash although Ed was still standing.

"This guy's tough, tougher than the crust under my bed!" Ed shouted. Eddy began to gear up for his special attack.

"Strike Raid!" Eddy bellowed, throwing his keyblade at the ex-SOLDIER. The keyblade was surrounded by an aura, which hurt Cloud more and sent him to the ground. He retrieved his keyblade, and did a victory pose.

"Ha, grandmaster Eddy is in the house!" Eddy exclaimed, whirling his keyblade over his head. But it wasn't over, Cloud had gotten up and jumped high in the air and landed his sword on Eddy, knocking him out. He then got his sword out of the ground, and looked towards the stranded Ed.

"I think I'll put you out of your misery." Cloud muttered, before putting his sword on his shoulder and gathering dark energy into it.

"Blade Beam!" He exclaimed, as he smashed his Buster Sword into the ground. A massive beam of darkness was sent hurtling towards Ed, coming ever closer to its target. The beam was within an inch of Ed's face...

"Ed!" Alex and Double D screamed. But Ed's keyblade was surrounded by a light aura as Ed brought his keyblade up. The beam of darkness was cut in half and had dissipated, surprising Cloud, Double D and Alex. Even those on the stands were surprised, but they started cheering. Well, except Kevin of course.

"Lothor will bring you your bacon!" Ed shouted, leaping towards Cloud. Things were looking up, or so it seemed... Cloud had brought his sword up as a shield, anticipating Ed's attack. But then, unexpectedly, Cloud had smashed his sword into Ed's side winding him and sending him to the far right side of the arena.

"Come on, is that all you've got?" Cloud asked mockingly. He then twirled his sword into the air, and actually jumped into the air to power up for his attack.

"Double D, stop him quick!" Alex shouted. Double D nodded as he tried his special attack, Ragnarok. He jumped into the air and, surrounded by a green and red aura.

"This will stop you!" Double D said, as he bashed him with his keyblade 12 times. Each hit was more powerful than the last, before finishing off with filling his keyblade with a lot of energy and crashing his keyblade across Cloud's head, sending the spiky haired warrior to the ground face first.

"Yeah! You did it Double D!" Alex exclaimed as Double D came back down to the ground. Before he could give Double D a hi-five though, his sock-hat wearing friend had fallen to the ground exhausted. As well as this, Alex saw Cloud get up, a fire burning up in his eyes.

"Well, this is good..." Alex said sarcastically. He got into a fighting stance, hoping that Cloud would fall on his knees at least. But he didn't, as he was slowly walking towards him.

"Okay kid, time for your nap time!" The blond shouted, as he dashed at Alex. He was surrounded by a dark aura, and when he hit Alex he was sent hurtling backwards. Alex was shifting in the ground, before slowly standing up. He got in position, and looked around: Double D was exhausted, Eddy was knocked out and Ed was slowly getting up. 'Great, just great...' Alex thought. He looked into his pocket, only one potion left...

"Here goes..." Alex muttered, throwing Ed a potion. Ed had drunk the liquid and sprang up to his feet.

"Ed, wake Eddy up will ya?" Alex asked. Ed nodded, as he grabbed Eddy by his shirt.

"You can wake up now Eddy!" Ed shouted, slapping Eddy across his face a lot of times with each one becoming harder and harder. Eddy had fluttered his eyes up, but was woken straight up by a stinging slap across his face.

"Knock it off Ed!" Eddy shouted, jumping away from his loveable oaf of a friend. The two ran to Alex and stood on either side of him. They got into a fighting stance, as they got ready to face the slowly advancing Cloud Strife.

"Alex, any ideas?" Eddy asked.

"Hmm, well..." Alex trailed off. "Just fight!"

xxx

"Those dorks are getting creamed!" Kevin shouted. Nazz, Sora, Donald and Goofy were looking a bit concerned for their friends, what if they lost? Their opponent looked as if he was going to actually kill them; they had to take him out.

"Those dudes better do something or else!" Nazz advised. The others, even Kevin had nodded in agreement.

"Yeah, I mean, why doesn't Alex just use the power of darkness though?" Sora asked. They all shrugged, not knowing what to say.

"Let's just see what will happen..." Kevin muttered.

xxx

Alex had ran to the right side of Cloud and had then jumped in his direction. He was going for a jumping slash but Cloud retaliated at the last minute, knocking Alex up in the air. Alex had landed on his feet, and ordered Eddy and Ed to rush him.

"What!?" Eddy asked incredulously, not believing what Alex just said.

"Just do it!" Alex shouted. Eddy and Ed had rushed Cloud at both sides while Alex rushed him in the middle. 'If this works...' Alex thought. And it did, while Cloud was distracted by both Eddy and Ed, he didn't notice Alex knock him in the air with his sword. He jumped high in the air and slashed Cloud with 11 slashes, each slash delivering explosive damage. Alex had charged his sword up again.

"Bye!" Alex shouted as he shot the many energy beams at Cloud, sounding a massive explosion of dust and light. When the dust settled and the light cleared, Alex had slung his sword over his back while Ed and Eddy sat on the ground, exhausted. Double D had just recovered, using his keyblade as a crutch. Cloud was lying back first on the ground, too tired and hurt to even move his finger. Alex was also exhausted and fell on his butt next to Ed and Eddy.

"Geez, what a rush!" Alex exclaimed, exasperated. Suddenly, the sound of gates opening had brought the attention of almost everyone, except Cloud who was knocked out. Then, a massive three headed dog had rushed out of the darkness and stared down at Alex, Cloud and the Eds with a hungry look in its eyes. Everyone in the arena was too tired to run, their friends on the stands kept shouting at them to get up but it was useless. The man with the fire on his head, known as Hades had smirked at the sight.

"Oops, one other rules... Accidents happen." Hades muttered, walking into the dark. The three headed dog, Cerberus was going to eat them all. But suddenly a man with large muscles wearing some armour had ran in between Cerberus and held all three of its heads at bay while looking behind him.

"Phil! Get them out of here!" He shouted. Phil had ordered Sora, Nazz, Kevin, Donald and Goofy to get Alex and the Eds out of the arena and into the lobby while leaving Cloud with Hercules. That was easier said than done, Alex, Eddy and Double D were light but Ed weighed a ton, so they dragged him in. When they were in the lobby, they left Alex and the Eds to lie against the wall, exhausted and bruised all over.

"Get your lazy butts in gear!" Kevin shouted. "We got to get that monster outta there!" The Eds and Alex had moaned, they couldn't move.

"We're too tired, you do it..." Alex muttered. Kevin had growled, kicking the dust on the floor. 'I can't do squat!' Kevin thought. Ed got out his keyblade, and handed it to Kevin.

"Here you go." Ed offered, giving Kevin his keyblade. Kevin did some strikes with his keyblade, but then it materialised back into Ed's hand.

"Don't you remember Ed? Only the chosen ones can wield the keyblade." Double D informed. Kevin looked even more irate.

" Hey Kevin, why don't you look after Alex and the Eds while me, Sora, Donald and Goofy go out and get rid of that beast!" Nazz exclaimed. Kevin nodded, sitting on a pedestal and looking over his "friends".

"Are you sure about this?" Phil asked with concern.

"Might as well get it over with." Nazz answered. "Okay guys! Let's get this show on the road!" Nazz, Sora, Donald and Goofy had run into the arena to confront Cerberus.

"She's sure got spunk." Phil said. The Eds, Alex and Kevin had chuckled.

"You sure got that right..." Kevin muttered.

xxx

The four soon to be junior heroes had run to the arena, between Hercules and Cerberus. Hercules had Cloud perched over his shoulder, and looked at the group with concern.

"You sure?" The hero asked. They glanced at Hercules over their shoulders.

"Just do it!" Donald ordered. He nodded, running into the lobby. They all got out their weapons, as they stared up at the menacing Cerberus. The party had gulped, wondering if this was such a good idea after all. 'No, I can't think that! I have to stay strong.' Nazz thought. They got into attack positions, and started the battle.

"So, how are we going to do this?" Sora asked.

"Go for the heads!" Nazz answered. They all nodded, and they began targeting their attacks on the head of Cerberus. But things weren't going to be that easy, you see Goofy had tried to get near Cerberus, but ended up being stood on by him. Goofy was okay, but he was slightly paralysed from the attack. Donald had cast a fire spell on one of its faces, and smiled triumphantly.

"Ha!" Donald shouted. Cerberus had glared down at the duck, flaring its nose down at him. It looked ready to bite Donald, but Sora and Nazz had hit the one of the heads with their weapons and stunned it. Donald had run quite far away, until he had gotten to the steps. He had then cast a thunder spell on the monster's head. Cerberus had roared with all of his might, breathing fireballs out of his mouth, aiming for Donald. The duck had squawked loudly, running around the stairs trying not to get hit by the fireballs.

"A bit of help here!?" Donald asked, dodging yet another fire attack. Goofy had suddenly gotten up, and had stood next to both Sora and Nazz.

"Hey you two, so how's it going'?" Goofy asked. The two had just pointed towards Donald, being barraged by a lot of fire attacks.

"We've got to help Donald!" Goofy shouted. Nazz had looked at Sora, a crafty and mischievous smile on her face. Sora had looked at her with a worried and concerned look on his face.

"I've got a plan!" Nazz announced, grabbing Sora by his shoulders.

"H-hey! What're you doing!?" Sora questioned. Nazz had thrown Sora onto Cerberus' back, with Sora landing on his back. Cerberus had stopped attacking temporarily, moving his three heads around.

"Geez, Nazz has a lot of upper body strength." Sora said. This was enough to tip off the three heads, as they turned around to look at him. He smiled nervously, rubbing the back of his head.

"Um, hey... uh..." Sora muttered. The three heads tried to bite him but they couldn't, they couldn't stretch their heads well enough to reach him. Sora got up, and smashed his keyblade in between one of the heads eyes. He then smacked another head with his keyblade, and cast a bit of fire magic into the other face.

"How do you like that?" Sora asked, mocking it. Donald had cast thunder magic onto the beast's head, prompting the three heads to target Donald. But then it began to stoop to the ground, darkness dripping out of its mouth.

"Yeah, we won!" Donald shouted. Suddenly, puddles of darkness had come underneath Nazz's, Donald's and Goofy's feet.

"Get out of the way!" Nazz shouted, as a massive stream of darkness had come beneath them all. However before it hit them, they got out of the way. Then another stream of darkness came after that. They just kept on running, dodging the pools of darkness. Although Sora didn't have to, he struck the neck of one of the heads, startling it. The head had turned around and had glared at Sora, its eyes bloodshot. It was about to bite him, but Sora had stuck his keyblade in between his mouth.

"Fire!" Sora exclaimed, a massive ball of fire going down the throat of the head. The head had become unconscious, and was inactive. The two other heads had looked down at the fallen one, and growled. It looked as if the two heads had argued between each other, snapping at each other with their teeth.

"Wow, it's as if they are arguing, kinda like Alex and the Eds." Nazz noted. Goofy had laughed loudly, a funny look on his face.

"Kinda cute." Goofy said. The two heads suddenly stopped bickering, identifying the source of the fallen foe. The two stretched their heads to find Sora, and began to snarl at him. Fire began to build up in their mouths, as they seemed to have been charging up for an attack. They then breathed fire at Sora, causing the boy to jump off of their back. He landed on his feet, but he was in trouble now as Cerberus was hot on his tail.

"Hey guys!? Any help would do wonders for me right now!" Sora exclaimed. Nazz had put her palm on her chin, observing the situation. Goofy was looking frantic, worried about Sora and the fact that they could lose a keyblade wielder.

"Nazz, you've got to do something quick!" Goofy shouted. 'It may not work though... I still have to try' Nazz thought.

"Goofy, follow my lead." Nazz said. She ran in front of Cerberus, and pulled a raspberry in his face.

"Come and get me! Or are you a little chicken?" Nazz asked, flapping her wings like a chicken and making chicken noises. Cerberus didn't like that too much, breathing fire at her. She dodged it, and ran like mad as she was being chased by the now two headed dog. She stopped, as she whispered something into Donald's ear.

"What?" Donald asked.

"We've got no time, just does it?" Nazz ordered. Donald nodded and gulped, if this worked, they could put away Cerberus for awhile. But if they failed... Cerberus had halted, looking down on the two. Nazz had crouched, and had then jumped high in the air and looked at one of the heads in the eye.

"Thunder blade!" Nazz shouted. Donald had cast thunder onto Nazz's sword, as she crashed her blade onto the right head of Cerberus. Electric volts had circulated around the guardian of the underworld's body, as Cerberus had slumped to the ground unconscious. There was a massive thud and a massive tremor, but the party had jumped in the air and cheered, victorious.

"Yeah! We did it!" Nazz shouted. "Let's check up on them." The group ran back into the lobby, as they went to check up on Alex, Kevin and the Eds.

Xxx

Nazz had walked in the lobby, a proud expression on her face. Alex and the Eds had fully recuperated, their wounds healed and gone. Kevin was also okay, he still looked the same.

"I'm guessing by that thud and tremor, you guys won?" Alex asked.

"You bet, and the fact that we are standing right in front of you proves it!" Nazz exclaimed. "He didn't even know what hit him!" Nazz had her hands on her hips. Alex was leaning against the wall, and had stood upright.

"So, ready to go?" Alex asked.

"We don't have enough room for Kevin!" Nazz shouted. 'Oh shoot, she's right... wait.' Alex thought.

"Hey Kevin, you can come with me in my ship." Alex said. Kevin raised an eyebrow at him.

"Really?" Kevin asked. Alex had nodded. Hercules also walked into the lobby, holding something in his hand.

"Hey, watcha got there?" Goofy asked, pointing at Hercules' hand. He then showed some sort of certificate, which said junior heroes on it.

"I think that since you guys did a great job, you become official junior heroes!" Hercules announced, giving everyone each a certificate. Alex had looked at it, feeling somewhat guilty. 'Am I really a hero?' He thought.

"Hey, what do you mean, junior heroes!?" Eddy questioned a burning look in his eyes. Donald had the same look, pointing his finger at the hero.

"Yeah, what's the big idea!?" Donald questioned. Hercules had sighed, a smirk planted on his face.

"You have to find out how to be a true hero, just like the way I did." Hercules said. Donald and Eddy growled, annoyed that they went through so much trouble to find out that they were only 'Junior Heroes'. The junior heroes had walked out of the lobby and near the exit of the world, where they saw Cloud Strife sitting on a bench.

"Are you okay?" Sora asked. Cloud suddenly stood up, and walked to Sora.

"I exploited the power of darkness, but it backfired." Cloud answered. Sora had crossed his arms.

"Why did you work with him anyway?" Sora asked. Cloud had looked down on the ground.

"I'm looked for something, my light." Cloud said. He then handed Sora something, before walking away.

"I'm looking for my light too." Sora said. Cloud stopped, and glanced over to Sora.

"Your light? Don't lose sight of it..." Cloud muttered. He then looked at Alex, with a stern look on his face.

"That goes for you as well." Cloud ordered.

"Hey, why don't we fight again sometime, no dark powers involved?" Sora asked. Cloud had ruffled his hair before walking off.

"I think I'll pass." Cloud replied, walking away into the lobby. The group then walked through the exit to the next world, but after they went...

Xxx

"Hercules, he's the guy you like, always there to help... He is perfect... Perfectly infuriating!" Hades shouted, becoming red with anger. He suddenly calmed down though, becoming blue again.

"No need to get angry Hades, you've got everything in place, no need to worry..." Hades assured to himself. Maleficent had soon appeared, a smug grin on her face.

"I see that you appear to have everything in order." Maleficent noted. Hades turned around, not too happy to see her.

"Huh? Why are you here? Buzz off will you you're cramping my style." Hades said. Maleficent had bowed down to Hades mockingly.

"As you wish." Maleficent whispered, before cackling and travelling through a portal of darkness.

TBC...


	6. StrandEd

Kingdom Eds: Rise of Darkness

Chapter 6: StrandEd

"Kingdom, this is Night Wing. Over." A voice over the radio announced.

"Roger," Donald replied, glancing over to the side of the window. Hovering next to him was what seemed to be a black gummi ship, and inside it... was Alex waving at him. Kevin was behind him, his usual scowl painted across his face. "Goofy."

"Yeah Donald?" His dim-witted friend replied.

"Keep an eye on Alex." Donald ordered "There's something fishy about him..." Meanwhile, the Eds, Nazz and Sora were at the back, just talking.

"So Sora, what did you usually do back home?" Nazz asked. Sora just smirked, folding his arms as he did so.

"Races, sometimes we did play- err... I mean training." Sora answered with a carefree smile on his face. "What did you do?"

"Well, Alex and the Eds usually did scams. I didn't really do much, except for makeovers of course." Nazz replied. Sora had nodded, before turning his head towards the Eds.

"So, what's Alex like?" Sora curiously questioned.

"Alex, hmm where to start. Oh yeah!" Eddy started. "He's bossy, annoying and a smarty pants!" Edd however had frowned upon his friend's shenanigans.

"Eddy! Sure Alex maybe on the sarcastic side, and he definitely is smarmy. But... well..." Double D trailed off. He began to scratch his head, pondering on anything good to say about Alex.

"Just face it Double D, Alex is a jerk and you know it!" Eddy teased, poking him on the forehead.

"I think Alex is funny!" Ed called out, randomly laughing.

"Yeah? Well no one asked you lumpy!" Eddy scorned, sneering towards his friend. Everyone then began to chuckle.

Xxx

In Alex's ship, however there was less conversation. Alex was behind the wheel of the gummi ship, steering with one arm with the other place loosely on his side.

"Hey Alex," Kevin called. Alex had tilted his head towards Kevin, with one eyebrow raised towards him.

"What is it?" Alex murmured.

"I don't have a weapon." Kevin explained. Alex nodded, switching the ship to auto-pilot mode. He then began to rummage through the glove box, hoping to find something of use. He finally found a bronze spear, although blue in colour. He had shown it to Kevin, eyebrow still raised.

"Will this do, Kevin?" Alex pondered. Kevin had grasped the spear in his hands. Its smooth handle had fit perfectly with his palm. He began to twirl it around with one arm, although he almost sent it flying towards the window. "Hey! Be careful with that!"

"Oops!" Kevin exclaimed. Once Kevin had picked up his spear, he had holstered it on his back, mainly because the spear had some material which had stuck to clothes. He then looked around the gummi ship, realizing that the whole interior was dark and gothic, he didn't want to stay in here for long.

"When do we land?" Kevin asked. Alex just shrugged his shoulders, returning back to the pilot seat. For the moment, everything was going smoothly, that was at least until the gummi ship in front had started to move erratically. Not only that, but the intercom was left on, so that Alex and Kevin could hear what was going on.

"Come on Donald, let me drive!"

"No!"

"But I am chosen one!"

"I don't care what you are, no!"

Alex and Kevin had begun to chuckle, but then had realized that the ship had begun to spiral out of control.

"Whoa, this is like a water slide!"

"Ed you idiot, now look what ya did!"

Alex and Kevin had glanced at each other and gulped, and had seen that the gummi ship had crashed into the nearby world, The Deep Jungle. Alex had desperately sighed, placing his hand on his forehead, a feeling of exasperation flowing through him.

"Tch, dorks." Kevin muttered.

"Well Kevin, it seems that our next destination is the deep jungle." Alex said, landing the gummi ship on the ground of the jungle.

Xxx

Sora had crashed through the roof of a tree house; one that looked like it had been ransacked and then quickly abandoned. Shrugging, Sora had stood up and surveyed his surroundings, the glass was smashed, the stairs were rotting and crumbling, seemingly impossible to climb. In frustration, Sora had kicked against the rotten wooden floorboards, when suddenly a leopard had leaped out from the window and attacked him. Sora had looked at the big cat with wide eyes, scared at the size of his claws and teeth.

"Um, nice kitty?" Sora asked, before summoning his keyblade. The wild cat had lunged towards Sora with his claws elongated; however Sora had luckily dodged out of the way. In confusion, the wild cat began look around to try and see where Sora was. Giving him the chance he needed, Sora had smashed his keyblade over the head of the leopard, causing the large feline to fall to the ground. He then stepped towards the leopard and tried to poke him with his keyblade, yet the leopard was cunning, and quickly leaped on all fours and made his way to the shocked and stunned Sora. A scream was then heard, as a man wearing nothing but a loin cloth and carrying a large spear had stood between the beast and Sora.

"Stay back, Sabor!" The man shouted, flinging the leopard to the other side of the room. Fearing the man's strength, the spotted feline had quickly fled from his adversaries. Sora had then sighed, before placing his hands behind his head.

"Sabor danger!" The loin clothed man uttered.

"Thanks." Sora said, although he couldn't understand what the man was saying, he seemed to be speaking in some foreign language; Gorilla maybe?

"Excuse me?" Sora asked.

"Friends, want to find friends?" He asked. Sora's face had beamed at the proposition.

"You know where they are?" Sora asked, scratching his head. Sora had then seen Kairi sitting on one of the steps, he looked dumbfounded at first, and however the image of Kairi had dissipated. Sora had then frowned in confusion, before staring at the almost naked man.

"What's your name?" Sora asked.

"Tarzan" Tarzan replied.

"Well, I'm going to find my friends now." Sora announced. Tarzan had just stared at Sora with confusion, tilting his head to the side. Sora had realized that Tarzan couldn't understand him.

"Err, I mean... Sora go, Tarzan go go." Sora explained. Tarzan had understood, before leading Sora out of the tree house. When Sora had seen what the jungle had looked like outside he was completely awestruck but even more so when Tarzan had leapt from the side of the cliff. Sora however had no choice but to follow Tarzan so he leapt from the cliff as well. It turned out that there was a cave here, and a hole in the middle, and seeing that Tarzan wasn't there he jumped down the hole.

"Whoa!" Sora exclaimed, as he was riding on a tree branch. He had to duck and jump over the obstacles, and had seen Tarzan in front. He then caught up with the wild man, before jumping down with Tarzan into what seemed like a forest with a stream in it.

Xxx

Alex and Kevin had landed next to some trees and water. Surveying his surroundings, Alex had noticed that he was in a forest. Kevin had spotted something at the other side of the forest, it looked like...

"Hey, it's the Eds and Nazz!" Kevin proclaimed. Kevin had then ran towards them, but noticed that he had to jump across the water and onto the other platforms. Alex had also seen where they were, and began to scratch his head.

"Strange, the heartless haven't attacked..." Alex muttered. Then, as if on cue, the heartless had appeared. Kevin didn't know what they were though, and began to tremble.

"What the heck are those things?" Kevin queried.

"Ah, they're just heartless, although they do look a little funny." Alex replied. The heartless looked like monkeys with blue fur, with their razor sharp claws capable of ripping somebody's heart out. Kevin had brandished his spear, holding it in front of him.

"Alright, Kevin, you ready?" Alex asked.

"Sure." Kevin replied simply, as the two boys had rushed towards the heartless. Alex was the first to attack, swinging his sword towards the heartless. However, the monkey like heartless had rolled out of the way of Alex's attack and scratched his leg.

"Ow!" Alex shouted, rubbing his leg. While Alex was doing this, the heartless were beginning to advance towards Alex, claws ready. Kevin, however had suddenly leaped high in the air, spear in hand.

"Jump!" Kevin had shouted, crashing into one of the heartless with his spear. The force of the spear crashing into the heartless was so hard, that it simply dissipated into nothing. The other monkey heartless had jumped, fearing the newcomer and fled. Alex had then stood up and looked around to see no heartless.

"What happened?" Alex asked. Kevin had smirked with cockiness.

"Well, I just jumped on the heartless with my spear and they were all too scared to fight!" Kevin replied, flexing his muscles. Alex had stolen the spear from Kevin for a moment and looked at it.

"Hey! That's mine!" Kevin shouted. Alex had ignored his "friend" for a moment to heavily study the spear. Its engravings had read 'He who uses this spear is given the power of the once legendary, but foolish dragoon..." Alex couldn't read the rest, the last part looked like it was covered with rust, heck the whole weapon looked like it could do with polishing. Alex had then handed the spear back to Kevin.

"You've got the power of a dragoon apparently; maybe that's why you can jump so high." Alex explained. Kevin looked confused.

"What's a dragoon?" Kevin asked, although Alex had shrugged.

"Beats me." Alex replied, scratching his head. Suddenly he felt something, no, _someone_ land on top of him, as he was crushed from the weight of the person who fell on him.

"Hey Alex!" Sora shouted, smiling bashfully, "Hi Kevin." Alex however had growled in irritation and had glared at Sora.

"Get off me!" Alex ordered. Sora had jumped off of Alex, before rubbing the back of his head in embarrassment. After Alex had dusted himself off he noticed another person, a wild man wearing naught but a loincloth.

"Who's he?" Kevin asked, with his eyebrows raised.

"He's Tarzan, and he knows where Riku and Kairi are!" Sora exclaimed gleefully. Alex had stared at Sora with a questioning look, while Kevin didn't really know what to say.

"Don't get your hopes up." Alex said half-heartedly, "They may already be gone, swallowed by the darkness." Sora had glared at Alex.

"Oh yeah? If that's the case, then you shouldn't be here either." Sora refuted.

"Good point I suppose..." Alex muttered, before walking towards the Eds and Nazz.

Xxx

"So, that's why you crashed." Kevin said, sighing. Alex had shaken his head, wondering how his friend could be so stupid.

"Where are Donald and Goofy?" Nazz asked. Kevin and Alex had shrugged, while Sora had frowned.

"Well, we should get going now." Alex suggested "I'd rather be moving than wait for the heartless to show up again."

"Alex is right; it would be wise to travel now." Double D agreed. The group had thus, decided to follow Tarzan, since he knew his way around. Soon enough, he had leaded them to a tent. It was large and orange in colour, and looked like it was big enough to hold the whole party. Alex and Eddy had both strode toward the entrance, before Alex had stopped before the "door"

"Ladies first, Eddy." Alex wryly remarked. Eddy had grumbled miserably, before going inside. Alex had then followed him inside, before everyone else decided to follow as well. The inside of the tent was quite large as well, a projector and a board was amongst the many antiques in the room, such as books on studies of gorillas and whatnot.

"Oh, hello." A voice greeted. The voice had belonged to a woman who had worn a white vest and long red dress, and had brown hair and green eyes. Her beaming smile had suggested that she was friendly. "Are these your friends Tarzan?"

"Um, I'm looking for my friends, have you seen them?" Sora asked.

"What do they look like?" The woman asked.

"Well they-"Sora was interrupted by a thud, as a large muscled man with a shotgun had dropped Donald and Goofy on the floor.

"I assume they are with you?" The man asked. The two had risen to the floor agitatedly while brushing themselves off, before noticing Sora.

"Heya Sora!" Goofy shouted before jumping on his friend.

"Hi, Goofy." Sora replied. Then, when Goofy had gotten off of Sora, Donald had edged near Sora, scowling as he did so.

"So, where's my apology?" Donald questioned, pointing accusingly at Sora. Sora had frowned at Donald's shenanigans, and had turned his back on him.

"I don't owe you anything." Sora answered defiantly.

"Oh put your handbags away ladies!" Eddy exclaimed, although this earned him a "Shut Up!" from almost everyone in the room.

"Come on guys, just kiss and make up, alright?" Alex asked, as he grabbed both of their hands and shoved them together. Reluctantly, Donald and Sora had shaken each other's hands, and had both agreed on a truce... for now atleast.

"Well, I'm staying!" Both Sora and Donald retorted. Sora glanced at Donald in a confused manner.

"What?" Sora asked. "Why?"

Xxx

"So, umm, you need to look for your friends, yes?" The woman, now known as Jane, asked.

"Yeah." Sora replied. Jane had nodded, before entering a few slides into the projector. There were a few slides, although one had stood out to Sora; A large tower with a clock. He felt as if he had known the place his whole life, although he had never left the island. 'Weird.' thought Sora 'I feel déjà vu.'

"What's wrong Sora?" Double D asked. Sora had looked taken aback, before regaining his composure.

"Ah nothing, just déjà vu." Sora replied. Alex had stared sternly towards Sora, as if he was surprised yet annoyed at the same time. Sora had noticed the glance Alex gave, before wincing slightly.

"Geez, what's wrong Alex?" Sora asked.

"Huh?" Alex questioned, "You say something?"

"Yeah, what's wrong, you gave me a weird look." Sora replied.

"Really? Sorry..." Alex apologized, grimacing as he did so. Afterwards, all of the slides were shown, all of which Sora didn't recognise as his friends.

"So, did you recognise anything?" Jane asked. Sora simply shook his head, before sighing and resigning all hope he had.

"What did we tell you Sora?" Donald asked. "No frowning." Sora had cheered up a bit, giving off a cheesy smile.

"You're right, thanks." Sora replied thankfully.

"Don't mention it Sora." Donald said with his arms folded. "Anyway, we also found this gummi." Goofy had then shown the group the small orange block.

"It could mean that the king is here." Goofy insinuated. Sora had approached the man with the shotgun, named Clayton.

"Have you seen my friends, Riku and Kairi?" Sora asked.

"No, I haven't seen any humans besides you lot." Clayton answered. "And, it seems that there's only one other way to find your friends: the gorillas." Tarzan had stared at the floor momentarily, thoughts running through his head, while the rest of the gang pondered on the situation.

"And the gorillas would help because?" Alex asked. Clayton had frowned at first, but followed up with a devilish smile.

"They could lead us to your friends, of course." Clayton replied. Suddenly, Tarzan had walked outside of the tent, presumably to lead the way. The group had followed closely behind. Clayton however, stayed still, a demonic smile creeping across his face. "Yes, lead the way Tarzan."

Xxx

The group had stood in front of the tent, looking for Tarzan. He stood near the forest entrance, where the group first came into. However, suddenly a large leopard had leaped from the trees and attacked the party.

"It's him!" Sora exclaimed.

"Who?" Ed asked.

"The leopard!" Sora answered. Suddenly the feline foe had leaped acrobatically towards Alex. Alex had rolled out of the way of the attack, and rushed the leopard. The leopard however was too quick and jumped out of the way.

"Hmm..." Alex mumbled irritated. Kevin was running towards the leopard, and with his spear having a long reach dealt a punishing upwards body blow to the four legged beast, launching it upwards in the air. After it landed, it stayed on the ground groggy. Ed had dashed towards the leopard, and struck it hard on the head with his keyblade, before swinging it horizontally with great force. The leopard was propelled to the right of the group, rolling in the ground before getting up slowly.

"Persistent, isn't he?" Double D asked, as he fired a fire spell towards Sabor. Sabor, while still tired was quick enough to dodge the attack, however instead of leaping had begun to stalk his opponents. Eddy had sprinted towards Sabor, his keyblade raised high in the air with one hand, intending to strike his foe. However, Sabor had ducked the attack, and swiped his claw across Eddy's face, sending him backwards.

"Yeowch!" Eddy screamed, dropping his keyblade and sitting on the ground, while trying to heal his wound. Nazz, also joined in the fray by leaping towards the leopard with grace, however the leopard had saw this and slinked away from the young girl's attack. Sora crept behind Sabor and tried to get a sneaky hit in, but failed as the leopard had once again evaded the attack. Goofy and Donald tried to attack both sides of Sabor at the same time, however the felonious feline had escaped from their grasp, causing the two to hit each other.

"What's it take to get rid of this guy!?" Alex asked exasperated, suddenly running towards the beast with his sword emanating dark smog.

"Whoa..."Kevin muttered, awed by the sheer power Alex had accumulated. Alex had then dashed towards the big cat and struck Sabor with such great force that it sent the spotted animal through a various amount of trees in the forest, ejecting Sabor out of the battle.

"Well, that should do it." Alex remarked, dismissing his sword. However, his friends had stared at Alex incredulously, their mouths agape in confusion.

"How in the name of Pete did ya do that!?" Eddy questioned.

"Easy, the darkness boosted my power." Alex replied.

"That's cool!" Ed exclaimed loudly "Can I try?"

"Nope." Alex replied casually, before walking away from his friend. Ed had sighed loudly, before following his compatriot along with the rest of the party on their quest.

Xxx

"We're in the forest again?" Alex pondered. "What good is this gonna do?"

"Hey Alex, remember that large pole vine thingy we saw, you know the one that the Eds and Nazz were by? Maybe that's the way to their nest." Kevin queried. Alex had then sparked with realization, his brightness resembling that of a light bulb.

"By jingo Kevin, you're spot on!" Alex exclaimed. The group were confused with Alex's sudden change of language, prompting them to raise their eyebrows towards him.

"What, it's a reference to old English." Alex muttered. The group had shrugged, before trekking through the water and various green spaces of land. After a couple of minutes of swimming and jumping over hippos, they almost reached the island with the pole. However, they had to jump across a hippo. Tarzan jumped first, followed by Ed, Double D, Nazz, Sora, Donald, Kevin, Goofy and Eddy. Alex was reluctant at first, staring at the water with beady eyes.

"The funny thing is guys, I can't swim..." Alex wryly remarked, which in turn raised many irritable sighs from the group.

"Oh come on Alex, how did you get this far?" Sora asked impatiently.

"Jumping over hippos isn't hard, is it!? And besides, what if I miss and drown?" Alex retaliated.

"Aw, does the baby need his bottle?" Eddy retorted. Alex, annoyed had simply jumped on the hippo and onto the little bit of land, before smirking at Eddy.

"I'm not really scared of water and I CAN swim, smart aleck." Alex said. Afterwards, the whole group climbed up the pole.

Xxx

If anyone wasn't afraid of heights, they would be after seeing how far down they were from ground level, in fact it was enough to make anyone faint.

'So that's why the gorilla's nests are hidden...' Alex thought. On another tree branch from quite a distance away, were two gorillas both male and female. Tarzan had spoken to the male in gorilla language.

"Kerchak!" Tarzan exclaimed "I need your help, I need you to find their friends because... because... they need my help." Kerchak had blankly stared at Tarzan and his misshapen group before simply walking away without reply, with the female gorilla following suit. Tarzan had simply fixated his view to the ground, downtrodden.

"Did you get that?" Goofy asked, looking at Donald as he did.

"No." Donald simply replied.

"Kerchak..." Tarzan muttered. Alex had begun to sigh, before kicking the ground.

"What now?" Alex asked exasperatedly.

"...The tree house..." Tarzan mumbled. The group had looked at Tarzan questioningly.

"What about it?" Sora asked, scratching his head.

"I sense... something." Tarzan replied. And so the group went, following Tarzan on their quest to find their friends...

Xxx

Tarzan had led our team near the tree house; of course it looked almost nothing like a tree house, and looked like it suffered damage beyond repair.

"Gee, what a dump." Eddy remarked. Alex had crossed his arms, sighing with exasperation.

"It reminds me of the dorks' tree house, ha ha!" Kevin exclaimed, chuckling while doing so.

"You're telling me..." He muttered. The group had neared the entrance when they had spotted Clayton aiming at something. When they got closer they realized he was aiming towards a small gorilla. Obviously, the group wasn't pleased.

"Hey, what are you doing!?" Sora questioned, causing the poacher to shoot the ground near the gorilla. It scared her off, causing her to flee. In the distance, Kerchak could be seen shaking his head, before shortly disappearing.

"Kerchak, wait!" Tarzan pleaded. However all attention had been placed on Clayton, who was about to commit the dirty deed.

"Wait, I wasn't aiming for the gorilla, you see a snake passed by!" Clayton "explained" raising his arms in defence "I saved its life!" however the party didn't look convinced, with Tarzan pointing his spear towards Clayton. Clayton, left with no other option was forced to escape from the party.

Xxx

"What an interesting bunch..." The figure muttered, watching the events play out on his sphere of magic. He focused in on Alex.

"How interesting indeed, it seems I'll have to meet them in the next world..." The figure mumbled, before chuckling to himself.

Xxx

"I'm sorry about Clayton," Jane said "It seemed that all he wanted to do was to hunt the gorillas."

"Nah, its ok," Sora replied, hands behind his head. "Just means it's harder to find my friends." The Eds and Alex had huddled up closer together, trying to figure out a plan.

"So, got any ideas?" Alex asked, eyes shifting between his three friends.

"How about we just dump 'em?" Eddy suggested, smiling slyly while poking a finger out towards the rest of the group.

"I don't think that's a good idea, the more the merrier I say." Double D replied.

"He's got a point." Alex agreed, eyeing Ed "What about you Ed?"

"Lothar will lead us all!" Ed exclaimed dumbly, a smile stitched across his face. Alex, sighing had disbanded the huddle, while folding his arms.

"We'll just have to wait for a clue..." Alex muttered, as the rest of the party seemed to chat about other things.

Xxx

"Imbeciles, I'm never going to hunt any gorillas with those fools around!" Clayton ranted, sighing heavily. Then, hearing a faint sound, he pointed his gun before pulling the trigger...

Xxx

*BANG*

The whole group was startled, bobbing their heads left and right in fear.

"Huh, what was that?" Sora asked.

"Maybe you should check, Sora?" Eddy suggested. Sora had growled at Eddy, summoning his keyblade and pointing it at him.

"Oh no you don't, you go." Sora ordered. However, both were actually thrown out by the group, as to stop them arguing.

Xxx

"Sora, you see anything?" Eddy asked, searching for the creation of the noise. Sora, slowly rising to his feet had scratched his head, before slowly walking around the camp site.

"No, not a thing, wait is that a gorilla?" Sora asked, pointing towards the primate. Eddy had got a good look of not only the bewildered gorilla, but the heartless around it.

"We've gotta fight 'em!" Eddy exclaimed, summoning his keyblade and readying his stance. Sora, for a moment had raised an eyebrow at Eddy.

"I thought you didn't like fighting?" Sora questioned, pointing on Eddy's forehead.

"They're helpless! Come on, just do it!" Eddy shouted.

"Alright, geez..." Sora muttered, summoning his keyblade "Here goes!" Sora had then run towards the heartless, with Eddy close behind him. The monkey heartless had noticed this new threat and began to focus their sights upon their new target, surrounding them, and thus the battle begun.

"You ready?" Sora asked, standing back to back with Eddy.

"Always!" Eddy replied sharply, before dashing towards the surrounding heartless. He faced two of the powerwilds, as they were called. Eddy had wildly lunged towards one of the heartless, and luckily his speed had paid off, as Eddy got a hit in. Stunning the heartless, he smashed his keyblade on its head, before doing a spinning slash, causing the heartless to dissipate. However, he was kicked heavily in the back by the other powerwild, causing him to crash hardly into the floor.

"Eddy!" Sora exclaimed, reaching out to him. However, he quickly rolled out of the way of a flying kick from one of the persistent primates, before crushing its head with his keyblade, stunning it. He then dashed towards the heartless towering over Eddy, before wildly slicing the heartless in half with his keyblade. Eddy had then slowly risen, before shaking his head. He stared at the remaining two powerwilds, getting into a fighting stance.

"You ready, Sora?" Eddy asked.

"As ready as I'll ever be!" Sora replied, as the two dashed towards the heartless.

Xxx

"What's taking them so long?" Double D pondered "Do you think they got lost?" Alex had growled in irritation, which turned the attention of the others to him.

"Gee Alex, what's the matter?" Kevin asked. Alex had stared back at him, flashing a sharp look towards him.

"What do you mean?" Alex asked impatiently.

"Well, it just seems that ever since you got here, you've been a bit weird." Kevin replied, crossing his arms. Alex, having a sense of realization, had changed his face from a scowl to an almost apologetic look.

"Oh, sorry, I just wanna find our friends quickly that all." Alex replied. Suddenly the two had burst through the tent, tripping each other up and landing flat on their faces.

"What was all that about?" Alex asked, folding his arms. The two got up, dusting themselves as they did.

"There are a few gorillas out their being terrorized by heartless!" Sora exclaimed, pointing outside.

"Really? We've got to help them!" Nazz said agitatedly, summoning her weapon.

"We've already cleared the outside of the tent; all we've got to do is keep going forward." Sora explained.

"Alright, let's move!" Alex commanded, running outside. The rest of the party had followed suit. As they gazed on outside of the tent, the group had run towards the path of the bamboo thicket. The party then saw a gorilla standing on a rock, surrounded by the heartless.

"Charge!" Ed exclaimed, as he leaped towards one of the heartless, crushing it under his keyblade. Alex had leapt high into the air, landing on one the heartless with his sword.

"Okay, I've got it." Alex said, before getting kicked in the back of the heard by one of the heartless. He fell to the ground face first, before rolling on his back. Suddenly, two of the power wilds had ganged up on him, sharp claws at the ready. "Oh shoot."

"Oh no you don't!" Donald exclaimed "Thunder!" suddenly a large thunder bolt had hit one of the power wilds, causing it to disintegrate. Double D then had sent a large fire ball at the heartless, causing it to disappear. Alex got up, before getting in a fighting stance. The monkey heartless, being the last one and numbered, simply vanished. The gorilla had escaped, before leaving behind a gummi piece. Alex went up to it, before examining it.

"Is this a thunder Gummi?" Alex asked. The group came up to him, as Alex gave it to Donald, who stored it in a pouch.

"Let's keep going." Double D said. The group nodded, as they ventured near to the cliff. They then say another group of heartless gang up on a gorilla, five in total.

"Let's do this!" Alex exclaimed, leaping towards the heartless. Kevin had jumped high into the air, before landing on one of the heartless with his spear, destroying it. Eddy had thrown his keyblade like a boomerang towards one of the heartless, causing it to dissipate. Alex had sliced a power wild in half, killing it, and goofy had bashed one with his shield into the wall, defeating it. Donald had then cast a blizzard spell on the power wild, freezing it. This allowed Ed to run up to it and crush it with his keyblade.

"Alright, we did it!" Eddy exclaimed, punching the air. The gorilla had left, leaving behind an Aerora gummi behind. Donald had picked it up, putting it in his pouch.

"Where should we go now then?" Alex asked, scratching his head. Tarzan had quickly sprinted away from the party, leading the way.

"Let's follow him!" Eddy said, running after him...

Xxx

The group had gotten to the forest near the river after fighting a horde of heartless, "pooped out" after fighting all of the heartless on the way there.

"Geez, they never give up!" Eddy sighed. The group noticed Tarzan at the far end of the river, before climbing up the vine.

"Let's go!" Alex ordered, as he rushed towards the vine.

"Aw come on Alex, we're tired!" Eddy moaned, rubbing his head. Alex turned around, summoning his weapon and pointing it towards Eddy.

"I don't care!" Alex exclaimed furiously, enveloped in a purple aura. The party gave their looks of disgust at Alex, most noticeably Nazz.

"What's wrong with you!?" Nazz asked, sharply pointing her finger in his chest "Don't you care about your friends at all!?" Alex had growled loudly, eyes turning yellow. He turned to Nazz, pointing his sword at her.

"Alex, are you okay?" Ed asked with concern, staring him in the eye. Suddenly, Alex's "evil aura" vanished, and he returned to normal. His sword disappeared, as Alex's face hit the ground along with his body.

"What was that all about!?" Eddy asked exasperatedly, pulling on all three hairs. Double D examined his friend's body, rubbing his neck nervously while doing so.

"I have an idea, a thought maybe..." Double D murmured.

"What!?" Eddy questioned, "Why is Alex all, "cuckoo"!?"

"I think he used the darkness too much... amplifying his emotions to the extreme." Double D explained. "It makes sense, since he was surrounded by a dark aura, and his eyes turned yellow."

"Like a heartless?" Sora asked, folding his arms.

"That's exactly my point." Double D replied. Alex had shuffled his body, before getting up from the floor slowly.

"Ugh, my head... what happened?" Alex asked, rubbing the back of his head "I feel like I was hit by a truck." Shaking his head, he regained composure.

"So, when do we go?" Kevin asked.

"Now, before Alex gets grouchy again." Eddy said. Alex stared at his friend briefly, before shrugging.

"Hmm, whatever you say Eddy." Alex said, "Let's go." The group had followed Alex to the vine, and one by one climbed up the vine eventually leading to the branch.

"Where do we go now, "boss"?" Eddy asked, looking at Alex.

"We're better off climbing that green vine on the tree." Alex suggested, climbing up the vine. The party had followed suit. The group were in a place where there was a massive fruit, and were suddenly attacked by the powerwilds.

"You ready guys?" Eddy asked, summoning his weapon "Attack!" Eddy had leaped towards one of the heartless, rapidly striking the heartless with his keyblade until it dissipated before getting scratched in the back by one of them "Ouch!" Alex had come to his rescue, slicing the assailant in half with his sword.

"Um, I'm sorry Eddy..." Alex muttered, as he sliced another powerwild which jumped at him in half. "I just wigged out on you; I can't help it at times."

"It's alright Alex, I understand." Eddy replied, blocking a kick from a heartless. Nazz had slashed a heartless twice with her sword before destroying it and Donald had sent a thunder spell at one, dissipating it. The gorilla, before escaping had left behind an Aeroga gummi which Donald had yet again taken and stored in his patch. Suddenly, the group saw Tarzan standing near a cave-like entrance, before walking through it.

"It looks like he went to the tree house." Double D said.

"Let's go then, we don't have time to waste." Eddy said, before walking off.

"I thought you were tired?" Alex said jokingly, before following his compatriot...

Xxx

The group had gotten to the tree house, slowly walking towards it.

"I wonder though, why is this place so beat up?" Alex pondered, scratching his head in wonder.

"Maybe it was a meteor!" Eddy shouted, jumping up and down in a giddy fashion.

"I doubt a meteor crashed Ed..." Double D answered in exasperation.

"Um, guys..." Sora muttered.

"Maybe it's old, like Double D's pet lizard!" Ed shouted.

"Guys!" Sora shouted.

"What?" Alex asked.

"The heartless are in there!" Sora explained. Indeed, through the broken windows, was a gorilla being surrounded by five powerwilds.

"Okay guys, I've got an idea." Alex said, as he ran to the heartless alone. The powerwilds had noticed the youngster, ganging up on him.

"Watch this." Alex said, covered in a purple aura "Dark fire!" Alex had then shot several black balls of fire at all of the heartless, making them all disappear. Suddenly, Alex had sat down on the ground, tired. The party rushed in afterwards, staring at Alex in bewilderment.

"How the heck did ya do that!?" Eddy asked. Alex got up, before dusting himself of.

"Simple, I used the power of darkness." Alex replied.

"Cool, can I try? Pleeeaase!" Ed pleaded.

"Nope." Alex replied, before obtaining the shell gummi the gorilla left behind. He gave it to Donald, who then stored the gummi.

Xxx

Sitting on the floor feeling lonely, Jane sighed, reminiscing. She hoped that Tarzan and the others were fine, flicking her hair as she was embroiled in her thoughts. Suddenly, however and small gorilla had barged through the tent, before jumping on her.

"AAH!" Jane exclaimed, as the heartless entered the tent...

Xxx

The Eds were finally at near the tent, although they heard a noise.

"What was that?" Alex asked.

"I dunno, but I've got a funny feeling..."Eddy mumbled.

"Gas?" Ed asked

"No you dummy, he means something strange is happening." Donald replied, "And we need to find out what's going on."

"Well, let's go then!" Nazz shouted, dashing off into the direction, with the rest of the group following suit. When they had arrived at the tent, they were hit with an eerie silence, followed by the chill of the air...

"What's going on? Something doesn't feel right..." Alex pondered. He decided to look inside the tent, only to find that no one was in there.

"What the heck?" Eddy exclaimed. "Where's Jane?"

"Taken away..." Tarzan uttered "To, forest with giant black fruit."

"Huh?" Alex asked, confused by Tarzan's gorilla speech. Tarzan, like a flash ran away from the group. "I guess that's our queue..."

Xxx

The group had arrived at the place that Tarzan had, unbeknownst to them described as: The forest with the giant black fruit.

"Help!" a voice exclaimed. The voice was recognised as Jane's voice, as a large amount of power wild's were summoned. Alex however had leapt towards the fruit and sliced it in half, destroying it. The heartless then escaped, as Jane and the gorilla were freed.

"Tarzan, the gorilla's need your help, Clayton is near the cliff at the bottom of the forest." Jane informed. And with that, the group took off. They arrived in the campsite, after the long fall from the forest.

"Quick, let's go!" Alex exclaimed, as he rushed towards the bamboo thicket. The rest of the party had followed him, however before the group could get to the cliff they were greeted by one last visit from their felonious foe: Sabor.

"Oh no, not this guy again..." Eddy moaned exasperatedly. Alex had dashed towards the creature, swinging his sword wildly towards the creature, just about missing the leopard's whiskers. Double had casted fire on Sabor's face, stunning it, while Kevin struck it across the face with his spear knocking the spotted enemy away.

"Did we beat it?" Kevin queried, as he examined the feline closely. The beast shot like a spring however, and leaped towards Alex and pinned him to the ground.

"Hey, get off me!" Alex shouted, as he tried to wriggle free. The leopard had raised its paw, claws sheathed. "I'm warning you..." Alex muttered, as he began to glow purple. Sabor, before going in for the blow was flung high into the air by the sudden surge of energy. Alex, rising from the ground quickly, fired a dark ball of fire at the four legged foe, sending it high into the air.

"How did you do that?" Double D asked "And why didn't you do that against Cloud?" Alex had stopped glowing, before simply shrugging.

"Come on, let's go." Alex said, before walking to the Cliffside.

Xxx

A large group of gorillas, including Kerchak were rounded up by Clayton, as he was about to release the trigger.

"Stop!" Sora demanded, summoning his keyblade. Clayton and the powerwild's were preoccupied with Sora and the party, allowing the gorillas to escape.

"It seems you've made it this far, congratulations." Clayton sarcastically greeted, loading his double barrel shotgun.

"It's over Clayton!" Double D exclaimed, summoning his keyblade too, before everyone else summoned their weapons.

"Why, it's only just the beginning!" Clayton remarked, pointing his weapon towards the group.

(TBC...)


	7. Unexpected Encounter

Kingdom Eds: Rise of Darkness

Chapter 7: Unexpected Encounter

"Why, it's only just the beginning!" Clayton remarked, pointing his weapon towards the group. As soon as the battle began, Alex had charged towards Clayton.

"You guy's attack the power wild's, I'll deal with Clayton!" Alex insisted, leaping towards the sinister poacher. Ed had dashed towards one of the power wilds, smashing it across the head with his keyblade. The heartless screeched in pain, before being finished off by a fire spell from Donald.

"Freeze!" Edd exclaimed, as the sock hat had frozen one of the evil primates with a blizzard spell, before Sora smashed the block of ice into millions of pieces with his keyblade.

"Two down, four to go!" Sora exclaimed. However, things weren't going so well for Alex, as he was fired at by a barrage of bullets.

"I see the darkness within you boy, why do you fight against me?" Clayton questioned, before shooting at Alex. Using his agility and judging the aim of Clayton before he fired his shot, Alex had rolled out of the way.

"What makes you think I'm gonna tell you?" Alex asked, pointing his sword at Clayton "You're a greedy, cowardly man! You don't deserve power." Clayton, enraged by this had roared wildly.

"Weak!? I'll show you weak you filthy child!" Clayton exclaimed, picking a whistle from his pocket. Eddy was dealing with two power wilds while observing the fight between Clayton and Alex. One of the power wilds had leaped high into the air to scratch his face, however Eddy was fast enough to dodge roll out of the way.

"Eddy, catch!" Ed shouted, throwing his keyblade at Eddy.

"Why are you giving this to me for!?" Eddy questioned exasperatedly "You need it too ya know!" Eddy however, caught the keyblade, and faced the two assailants.

"Don't worry Eddy, we took care of two of them, now you just need to beat them too." Sora explained, as he turned to Clayton "We'll help Alex with Clayton."

"Okay, but I don't like it..." Eddy grumbled, facing his two feral foes with dual keyblade, ready to take them on. He dashed towards one of the heartless with blinding pace, hitting the hellacious heartless with a barrage of blows, destroying it effectively.

"Whoa! This is better than Alex's dark powers!" Eddy exclaimed, twirling one of the keyblades in his hand. "You want some too?" The monster, however accepted defeat before teleporting away from Eddy, "Now to help Alex".

Xxx

"Well, it seems you've defeated my heartless..." Clayton grumbled, standing in front of the rocky wall. "However, I have one more ace in the hole!" Suddenly, a massive quake had shook the ground beneath the group; the wall behind Clayton was completely obliterated.

"What the heck!?" Eddy exclaimed, as Clayton seemed to be lifted up in the air. "What's going on?" Eddy foolishly dashed towards Clayton, which caused many of his friends to gasp in surprise and warn him.

"No Eddy, wait!" Alex exclaimed, however it was too late. Eddy had leapt up in the air to strike Clayton with the two keyblades, however he was struck with a seemingly invisible force, sending him almost half way to the battlefield unconscious. The battle, then had resumed, as Clayton had loaded his gun.

"I don't like to end such precious life, but it's time to say goodbye!" Clayton shouted, as he aimed towards the group. Alex ran towards Clayton at a quick pace, which prompted him to shift his aim towards Alex. "I guess you're next." However, Alex had guessed where Clayton was going to shoot, and rolled out of the way before he could pull the trigger, perplexing the sharpshooter.

"I'll buy us some time; you find a way to beat Clayton!" Alex ordered, getting in a defensive stance. "Come on Clayton, aren't you gonna get me!?"

"Hmph, your time will come." Clayton replied, aiming at Alex, "I hope you don't feel so bad about this, but you're going to die!" Alex had rolled out of the way before Clayton could pull the trigger, inciting a gasp from Clayton. The group looked on, as Alex had evaded all of Clayton's attacks so far.

"I've got a plan Donald, but I need your help and Double D too." Nazz suggested, "If we use that magic sword attack on the thing below Clayton, we might stun it..."

"Okay, let's try it." Double D said, getting ready. Nazz had ran and stood behind Clayton, grabbing his attention.

"Hey Clayton, I'm over here!" Nazz taunted, grabbing the attention of Clayton. He turned around to face her, aiming at her too.

"You too, I suppose today isn't your day." Clayton stated in a matter-of-fact tone.

"That's what you think, Thunder Sword: times two!" Nazz exclaimed, dashing towards the invisible being below Clayton.

"Now!" Double D and Donald exclaimed simultaneously, as they both empowered Nazz with thunder magic. Nazz, encased with thunder energy and surrounded by sparks of lightning had struck the beast down below with a mighty force, a screech emitting from the creature. The monster had bucked Clayton off of it, before revealing its true form: a green and yellow camouflage and large, beady yellow eyes. Clayton had slowly risen up, aiming at the party.

"It's time to say goodnight kids." Clayton muttered, fingers inches away from the trigger.

"Um, okay... goodnight." Alex said, pointing behind Clayton. Clayton, looking behind him had seen the beast, known as the Stealth Sneak towering above him. Suddenly, the monster had fallen on top of Clayton, crushing him.

"AAAH!" Clayton screamed, before he along with the creature faded into darkness, releasing a stolen heart. The group, Tarzan in particular had spotted Kerchak, who was standing next to the wall. The two exchanged looks, before Kerchak nodded.

Xxx

Alex and the Eds rubbed their backsides, as they were standing in the insides of the cave.

"Geez that was a rough landing..." Eddy muttered.

"Tell me about it..." Alex groaned, as he examined the inside of the cave: water was gushing from below and covered almost the entire cave, making it hidden. Tarzan was standing upon a higher platform, waving his hand at them.

"Let's go guys." Sora said, as he jumped up the rocks. It took them a while, but they finally reached the top of the cave; they gazed at the massive keyhole coming out of a tree lodged in the wall. Jane was standing near Tarzan with her arms folded, while the cul-de-sac kids and Sora were standing in front of the tree. Donald and Goofy were standing on the other side of the tree, arms folded as well.

"Where are they then?" Alex asked, as he walked around the room. Jane stared at the youngster in confusion.

"Who?" Jane asked, putting her finger on her chin.

"Where are my friends, Riku and Kairi?" Sora asked, as he searched around the place.

"%&&%*" Tarzan said. The group were confused, before Jane realized what he was saying.

"I get it now, %&&%* means heart." Jane explained. Tarzan had repeated the word again, so that the group could understand, except they didn't understand.

"So, it was all a goose chase?" Alex questioned, a hint of exasperation creeping up on his face.

"Clayton had no heart, no heart, no see friends..." Tarzan muttered. Sora had sighed, putting his hands in his pockets.

"Yeah, I guess..." Sora grumbled, taking his hands out of his pockets. However, the keyblade from both Sora and the Eds had materialised, as they pointed at the giant keyhole. Blue beams of light had hit the keyhole, locking it permanently. Finally, a strange looking gummi had come out of the tree, as Donald picked it up. A small gorilla had appeared next to Donald, staring him in the eyes.

"I think he likes you Donald!" Goofy guffawed, as everyone else began to laugh as well. Donald had waved his hand and shook his head, his face painting an anxious expression.

"No, what will Daisy think!?" Donald exclaimed...

Xxx

"Ha ha, he used the darkness as bait, and got chomped on instead!" A figure joked, laughing as well.

"The hunter was a fool, he used the darkness as a weapon and it backfired on him." Another said.

"What about the boy?" questioned one of the figures "What if he betrays us?"

"He won't, believe me." The leader of the figures reassured "He's completely loyal to me, and we've got a princess out of it." Suddenly, Alice had appeared in the only spot of light in the room, as sinister of laughter echoed through the room.

Xxx

"So, where to now?" Sora asked. "Are we going to traverse town?"

"I suppose." Donald replied, hand on the steering wheel. "We need to find out how that gummi works." Sora had sighed, sitting on one of the seats, head hung low.

"I hope we find them quickly, I miss them..." Sora mumbled, shaking his head. "This is my fault, if I wasn't so weak-"

"Stop pitying yourself Sora!" Double D exclaimed "We're all going through trauma at the moment, losing and finding friends. Feeling sorry for yourself won't make it any better."

"He's right Sora, we just need to keep our heads up and find our way." Goofy advised, patting his hand on Sora's head. Sora had smiled, with his hands behind his head.

"Hey, Sora." Eddy said, glancing at his acquaintance.

"Yeah?" Sora replied.

"Why do you get that cool keychain, and I don't!?" Eddy asked furiously, standing firmly with both hands by his side.

"You mean this?" Sora asked, materialising a different looking key: the Jungle Key to be precise.

"Yeah that's right!" Eddy shouted, pointing in his face. "And I'm havin' the next one!" The party had just laughed, as the two young prodigies argued over who should have the keychain, however in Alex' ship...

"Hey Alex, what's it like?" Kevin pondered, lying on a chair. Alex put the ship on auto pilot, before turning to Kevin.

"What do you mean?" Alex asked with his arms folded.

"The darkness, what's it like?" Kevin asked. Alex had frozen for a moment, before regaining his composure.

"Well, it feels good, to be so powerful." Alex replied, as his eyes were fixated on Kevin "Why do you want to know anyway?"

"Well, I want the power too." Kevin said, standing up "I'll do anything!"

"Kevin, the power of darkness is corrupt, the only reason I'm not a heartless is because my heart is so strong." Alex stated, as he created a dark fireball in his hand "You see, the darkness is like a fire, like a fire needs air; darkness needs a strong heart to ignite strength." Kevin had given a perplexed stare at Alex, cocking his head to the side.

"I didn't understand any of that!" Kevin moaned in exasperation. 'Good, I don't want you to end up like me, a monster...' Alex thought, smiling.

"You weren't supposed to." Alex replied, flashing a cheeky smile.

Xxx

"It seems the hunter, was hunted." A figure muttered, looking into the sphere of energy where he saw the two gummi ships travelling to Traverse Town.

"Are you going to test them?" Another, female figure asked, walking back and forwards in anxiety.

"Of course, especially the boy who uses the darkness, I want to gauge his strength..." He muttered.

Xxx

As the group had finally arrived at Traverse Town, they began to observe what was going on around them.

"Where to first then?" Alex asked "Should we split up?"

"Maybe, who are the groups?" Double D asked "Me, Eddy, Ed, Alex and Nazz?"

"I'm cool with that." Eddy said, with his hands in his pocket "We need to split up to cover more ground" And so the groups had split off, with Alex, the Eds and Nazz staying in the first district while the others went into the second.

"So, where do we go now?" Alex asked "The accessory shop?" The party simply nodded, as they followed their friend inside. The shop was the same as they left it, as Cid occupied the back of the till.

"Hey kids, what's up?" Cid asked.

"We need to find Leon, we found a certain gummi." Alex replied, as he placed his hand behind his head. Cid had raised his eyebrows, his interest piqued.

"A gummi you say?" Cid asked. Alex nodded.

"Why, do you know something?" Nazz asked, folding her arms as she did so.

"Come outside, I've got something to show you." Cid said, leading the cul-de-sac kids away, meanwhile...

Xxx

Mean while, Sora, Donald, Kevin and Goofy had reached the third district as they searched for Leon.

"Well, he's not here either, let's go." Donald said, getting ready to go.

"Hey Sora, I finally found you." A familiar voice said. As the trio looked behind them, they saw a silver headed teen wearing a yellow vest, blue pants and blue and white shoes. His piercing blue eyes were familiar to Sora as his friend...

"Riku!" Sora exclaimed, running towards him. Riku had summoned his weapon however, causing Sora to stop. "Huh?" Suddenly, Riku had leapt towards Sora...

*SLASH*

A heartless was sliced in half by Riku, who stood up straight and dismissed his weapon.

"Geez, it looks like I'm going to have to protect you, as always." Riku said. However, Sora had suddenly dashed towards Riku, preparing to attack.

*CLANG*

A heartless, which was behind Riku, was destroyed as Sora had stood back up straight.

"What was that about me needing your help?" Sora asked sarcastically, twirling the Keyblade in his hand.

"Hey guys, have you found Leon yet?" A familiar voice asked, sounding female. The group turned around to see Yuffie, arms crossed and a smirk on her face.

"No, have you seen him?" Sora asked.

"I know where he is; just meet me in the alleyway." Yuffie replied, walking away slowly. Riku, turning away from his friend had begun to get ready to walk away.

"Where're you going Riku? We've got this awesome rocket!" Sora exclaimed, a beaming smile stitched across his face.

"No." Donald said with his arms crossed.

"What? Why?" Sora questioned, eyes getting bigger.

"Because I say so, that's why!" Donald argued, glaring at Riku.

"Hey, where did he go?" Goofy pondered, looking around.

"You scared him off! Ah well, at least he's okay, and we might find Kairi too." Sora said as he had his hands behind his head. "So, what now?" Sora asked, looking to his two companions.

"Let's wait for Alex and the Eds." Donald replied.

Xxx

"So, you deal with gummi's" Alex asked, eyeing Cid.

"Yep, haven't done so in quite a while, but what you're talking about sounds like a Navi-G." Cid reassured, hands on his hips. "Why don't you find your friends, and I'll install it for ya." 

"That's great!" Eddy exclaimed, eyes growing wider. "That means we can get out of this place!"

"Yeah, but one more thing, can you do me a favour?" Cid asked, as he got out a book. "Can you deliver this for me, an old man gave it to me."

"Sure, let's get going." Alex said, taking the book from Cid and putting it in his pocket. The group had gone to through the door to the Second District, but had felt a slight chill, as well as hearing the sound of ringing bells.

.

"What?" Alex questioned, looking around the district "Was that, ringing?" 

"Yeah, it seemed so." Double D replied, staring straight at the clock tower "It seems to be coming from there."

"Hey, you're right!" Eddy exclaimed "And there's a slight chill too."

"Freaky..." Ed muttered, scratching his head.

"Well, let's not dwell on it now, we must deliver this book. Remember what Cid told us, go to the door with a emblem on it." Double D instructed.

"Hey guys!" A familiar voice exclaimed. The group saw Sora Donald, Goofy and Kevin running towards them.

"Did you find Leon?" Kevin asked with his arms folded.

"No, not yet..." Double D replied, "Besides, we need to deliver a book to an old man..."

"Yeah, we need to go to a door with fire on it." Alex stated, crossing his arms.

"A door with fire on it? No I don't remember- wait! I saw something like that in the third district!" Sora exclaimed.

"Really? Let's go then." Alex said, and after that he ran away as quick as a flash.

"Hey! Wait for us Alex! We're a team, remember!" Nazz exclaimed. Soon, the Eds and Nazz took after Alex, whilst Sora, Donald, Goofy and Kevin went to the meeting place...

Xxx

"What took you so long?" Yuffie asked, placing her hands on her hips "You sure are a bunch of slow coaches." As the group looked around the Alleyway, they stared at a large grate, scratching their heads.

"I don't get it, Leon is here?" Kevin asked.

"Yup." Yuffie replied, flashing a cheeky smile towards him. Kevin shrugged, before getting out his spear.

"Here goes..." Kevin muttered, before dashing at the grate. He then proceeded to bash the grate, but failed as he almost broke his spear.

"Hey, I've got an idea." Sora suggested, looking at Goofy, as an evil grin was etched across his face. Goofy gulped, as both Sora and Donald advanced towards him.

Xxx

*Yahoohoohoie!* Followed by a crash was heard, as Alex, Nazz and the Eds looked around the third district.

"What the heck was that!?" Eddy questioned, summoning his keyblade.

"Probably nothing, maybe a heartless..." Alex replied, searching the district. "We won't find the door if we don't try." The group had searched around, inspecting every nook and cranny.

"Jackpot!" Eddy exclaimed "I found it!" The group rushed towards their diminutive friend, as they confronted the door.

"Well, what now?" Ed asked.

"That's simple; now step aside if you please." Double D said as his keyblade appeared in his hand.

"Fire!" Edd exclaimed, as a massive fireball crashed into the door. A clicking noise had sounded, as the door was unlocked.

"Well, ladies first." Alex said, gesturing towards Eddy.

"Ha ha ha, very funny!" Eddy replied sarcastically, as he marched angrily through the door.

Xxx

In the meantime, in the second district a man with a black cloak was standing on top on the clock tower. His hood was up, concealing his face. The enigma wore spiked, black shoulder guards and had white shoes with black stripes and a white spiral covered the chest area of the cloak. An evil smirk crept upon his face, as another enigma, this time wearing a blue cloak appeared.

"Have you found him?" The blue cloaked enigma asked, her voice sounded in an effeminate tone indicating that she was a woman.

"Yes, I have..." The man in black replied.

"Then, what are you doing here?" She pondered, crossing her arms. "Why are they so important? Why is the boy, so important?"

"You will soon realize..." He answered, vanishing in a purple smoke.

"Hmph, fool..." The female enigma mumbled, before teleporting in an icy blue mist.

Xxx

"Ow, my head hurts..." Goofy groaned, painfully gripping his head. The quartet had found Leon training, swinging his sword from side to side.

"Hey Leon." Sora greeted, walking towards the aloof man. Squall stopped training, before facing the young Keyblade Master.

"Hi Sora, I see you've got a new friend." Leon said, pointing at Kevin.

"Yeah, that's Kevin. Do you know what this is?" Sora asked, showing him a gummi block. Leon placed his hand on his head, trying his hardest to think.

"Sorry, I have no idea... maybe you can ask Cid." Leon replied, as he resumed his training.

"Oh, okay..." Sora muttered, before walking away.

"Wait, Sora I have something for you." Leon said, as he took out a stone. As Sora walked towards Leon, he noticed that it wasn't just a normal stone.

"What is it?" Sora asked, as he put his finger on his chin.

"It's obviously a rock, you dummy!" Kevin retorted while inspecting the special stone.

"It's a good luck charm, you see, one day while I was training I found this rock with the face of a lion on it... although I think you should have it Sora." Leon said, giving Sora the rock.

"Thanks Leon!" Sora exclaimed excitedly, as he put the stone in his pocket. "Come on guys, we're leaving!" Soon the whole of Sora's group had left Leon alone to train, as he prepared himself against the invasion of the heartless.

Xxx

"Gee, this place is more run down than Ed's room..." Alex muttered, glancing around inside of the old and tattered house.

"Yeah, it's funny how it's in a cave too." Eddy stated, rubbing his head.

"Really? I don't think it's a laughing matter personally." A voice replied. An old man had walked through the door, donning blue robes and a wizard's hat to boot, as well as carrying a large brown bag.

"Who are you?" Alex questioned, "Are you a heartless?"

"Of course not, I'm Merlin the Magician." Merlin replied.

"Oh, right... we need to give you this book." Alex said, getting the book from Double D.

"Oh, hang on a minute." Merlin replied, as he had retrieved a large brown rucksack. Suddenly, many pieces of furniture such as a table, a work desk and even a pumpkin carriage had appeared. The room looked transformed, it looked more homely than it did before and the cul-de-sac kids head marvelled at the magic that had taken form.

"Whoa!" Ed exclaimed, "Funky!"

"Now, about the book you wanted to give to me." Merlin said, as he stretched himself. Alex had thrown the book at Merlin, who caught it with slight ease. "Ah yes, this is the book that I asked Cid to repair, it was tattered when I found it." Merlin had laid the book on the work desk, before folding his arms.

"What is the story of the book? I noticed that all of the pages were gone." Double D asked, as he placed his hands on his head.

"Why don't you have a look inside?" Merlin asked "Although, only one person can go in."

"Well, who's going in? Or should we tell Sora?" Alex wondered, crossing his arms in the process.

"Maybe, I think Sora should do it." Eddy suggested, "I got a feeling he should be going to have a look at the book.

"Alright then, so, while you're here you might as well learn about magic." Merlin stated while he had his hands behind his back.

"Maybe another time." Alex said, as he turned around to leave.

"Come on Alex, don't be rude!" Double D exclaimed furiously.

"Yeah, stop bein' a spoil sport." Eddy said.

"I wanna learn some magic tricks!" Ed shouted as he summoned his keyblade.

"Alright, have it your way." Alex submitted, grimacing. Meanwhile...

Xxx

"So, the old man's teaching them magic?" The female voice asked.

"Yeah," The male enigma replied. "I guess it gives me more of a challenge, or not."

"Don't underestimate them, especially the one who uses darkness." She warned, as the orb focused in on Ed performing a fire blast.

"I won't, after all, it's just a test." The mysterious man replied.

"And make sure they are alive after." She demanded, as she disappeared in a puff of smoke.

Xxx

"So, where to now?" Sora asked "We found Leon, shall we go to that place Alex and the others went to?" The group were in the third district, staring in front of the door with a fire sign on it.

"Yeah, sure." Kevin replied confidently.

"Okay, let's go then." Sora said, as he opened the door. The others followed behind, and discovered that they were inside a large cavern and saw a small house on an island surrounded by water, with moving platforms used to travel to it.

"Jeez, that's pretty special." Kevin remarked, folding his arms.

"Well, who's first?" Sora asked, as he stared at each of his companions.

Xxx

"Wow Ed, not bad..." Alex muttered, "You might give Double D a run for his money."

"I wouldn't go that far Alex." Double D sharply replied. Merlin was sitting on his chair as he watched the two argue, thinking slowly to himself. Nazz and Eddy meanwhile were having a discussion of their own.

"I wonder if Alex could use magic..." Eddy mumbled "And not that darkness mumbo jumbo either." 

"Probably, although he doesn't need to does he?" Nazz replied, staring at Alex "Although, I do have my doubts."

"About what?" Eddy asked.

"About the darkness." Nazz replied "It seems to change Alex somewhat, he almost killed Ed. An you too, if you remember." 

"Yeah, I remember that. Maybe the darkness is dangerous." Eddy said. The door was opened suddenly, as Sora and his group walked through the door.

"Hey guys!" Sora exclaimed excitedly "I know what to do now, all we need to do is find Cid!"

"Yeah, we know." Alex replied dully "We did an errand for him, that's why we're here, although we were just leaving weren't we?" Alex asked, staring at Double D in the process.

"Yes, shall we get a move on?" Double D asked.

"Hey Sora, do you wanna' look at the book?" Nazz asked, pointing to the desk.

"We don't have time, let's move!" Alex ordered, and with that, the party left.

Xxx

"So Cid, now that we've done that errand, can you fix up our gummi?" Donald asked as he folded his arms.

"Sure." Cid replied, as he went away to upgrade the gummi. He was gone a couple of seconds, but came back seconds later.

"Geez, that was quick!" Eddy exclaimed exasperatedly.

"Well, you can go if you want." Cid said.

*Ding Dong*

"Huh? It's that bell again." Alex said, scratching his head.

"Yeah, could you do me a favour and check it for me?" Cid asked, "And if you need to, ring the bell three times."

"What!? More favours!?" Eddy questioned, his eyes nearly popping out of their sockets.

"Yeah! Why, you got a problem with that, shrimp?" Cid asked, hands on his hips.

"No he doesn't, look we'll find the cause of the problem." Alex replied, and with that said Alex had lead the group outside to the second district.

"I can't believe it!" Eddy roared, kicking a pebble as he did so.

"You're right, but sooner or later we'll find em'." Ed replied, "Especially with Sheldon, my luck cheese!"

"I thought you got rid of that..." Alex mumbled, before looking up at the bell. He noticed something suspicious though, a cloaked man or woman was standing there. "We've got company..."

"Huh?" Eddy asked "Who?" Just then, the cloaked man had jumped to the centre of the district, crossing his arms in the process.

"Umm, who's he?" Sora asked "Is he a heartless?"

"I don't know, but whatever he is he's going down!" Alex exclaimed, summoning his sword.

"Good, I could do with a challenge." The figure replied, materialising a long, black sword. Alex had jumped down to his level, followed by Ed and Eddy. The others had looked on, perplexed at the arrival of the newcomer.

"Who are you? What business do you have here?" Alex asked, preparing to charge.

"That doesn't concern you, what does is that you are a test subject, a guinea pig if you will." The enigma replied.

"Right! That's it!" Alex bellowed with rage, dashing towards the spectre with great speed and might. He raised his sword in the air, however before Alex could quickly bring it down, the enigma had teleported behind him with ease.

"Too slow." The shadow remarked, kicking Alex greatly in the back, causing him to be flung face first into the wall from across the battle field.

"Ow, that hurt." Alex muttered, turning to face him.

"Wow, a poor effort on your part." The phantom stated, as black smog formed around his hands. However, before he could execute his attack, Ed had struck him hard in the head with his keyblade.

"Take that, foul ghoul!" Ed cried valiantly, casting a fire blast at the nefarious foe.

"Hmph..." The unknown muttered, quickly moving away from the blast in an almost instant manner. Alex had ran towards the opponent and leaped high into the air, charging a massive amount of darkness in his hand.

"Take this!" Alex shouted, launching a massive dark fire ball at the intruder. However, the monster had merely stood still, absorbing the darkness. Clearly, he wasn't a normal person, an entity of darkness, hatred and malice. Alex had landed to the ground fairly quickly, quaking in fear of the malicious entity facing him.

"Really, is that all? Is that all you could muster?" The enigma questioned sarcastically, as he slowly stepped towards Alex. "I hoped you'd have more potential."

Xxx

"What are we gonna do?" Nazz asked, fretting over the situation. "He'll die if we don't help him."

"Alright, I'm going in!" Kevin exclaimed, wielding his spear. He suddenly jumped high into the air, and landed between Alex and his assailant.

"Kevin!?" What are you doing!?" Alex questioned, "You'll get hurt!"

"Maybe, but I've got to try." Kevin replied, facing the mysterious man. "So, you wanna play rough huh?"

"You're merely fodder to me." The enigma said, folding his arms. However, Kevin had rushed towards the enigma with great pace and managed to strike him in the gut with his spear, and followed up by launching him up in the air.

"How about that!?" Kevin asked, raising his fist in the air. The figure had teleported out of site however, confusing everyone.

"Impressive, but it's time to lose!" The enigma harkened, appearing behind Kevin with his sword to his neck. "You're a gnat, but you're the strongest here no doubt." Alex, Ed and Eddy had dashed towards the enigmatic force, hoping to strike him with their weapons. However, before they could attack, he reacted almost instantly and teleported away from them. Suddenly, he reappeared at the bell at the clock tower, and walked to the rope.

"What are you doing!?" Alex asked forcibly.

"I'm going to ring the rope three times, let's just say I'm helping you, and hurting you." The enigma replied shallowly, reaching towards the rope...

(TBC...)


	8. Is that?

Kingdom Eds: Rise of Darkness

Chapter 8:

"What do you mean!?" Alex questioned. The figure didn't reply as he rang the bell once.

*Dong*

Twice.

*Dong*

And three times...

*Dong*

As he did so, the wall in the fountain moved three times, displaying different pictures until the third wall revealed a key hole.

"Huh, you just showed us the key hole..." Alex muttered suspiciously.

"Yeah, something doesn't seem right..." Eddy agreed. Suddenly, large pieces of metal had fallen from the sky. Then, they all formed together to make the monster that Sora, the Eds, Nazz, Donald and Goofy fought the first time they arrived in traverse town.

"What, again!?" Eddy exclaimed in exasperation.

"Have fun, haha!" The enigma guffawed, before he vanished out of sight. The heartless, had made its way towards the group.

"Oh no, what are we going to do now?" Eddy asked, getting ready in a defensive stance.

"We do what we do best, kicking butt!" Ed replied valiantly, charging at the beast bravely.

"Is he always like this?" Sora asked.

"Pretty much..." Alex replied, "Come on, let's help him." However, before the party could do anything, Ed had leaped high into the air and raising both hands high in the air. Then, he swung his arms so hard and hit the Guard Armor with so much force that he had sent the heartless careening into a wall.

"So much for help..." Eddy muttered "I at least wanted some of the action." Ed had dashed towards the group, a large and childish grin etched across his face.

"How did I do guys!?" Ed questioned, his eyes sparkled with joy. The Guard Armor had suddenly risen from the ground, with only Sora out of the whole party noticing.

"Umm, Alex?" Sora asked.

"Yeah?" Alex replied.

"I think we may have a problem..." Sora revealed, pointing towards the heartless. The heartless began to transform itself into a reversed version of itself, The Opposite Armor.

"Oh great, just what I needed..." Alex muttered, getting ready into a fighting stance, "Any ideas?"

"Let him have it Ed!" Eddy ordered.

"You've got it boss!" Ed replied excitedly, running towards the heartless "Lothor will slay you foul beast!" leaping high into the air, Ed had measured up to the heartless and was about to strike, however before he could the heartless had gripped his body with its hands.

"Uh oh, don't worry Ed I'm coming!" Eddy exclaimed, dashing towards the Opposite Armor. He struck the hands of the heartless with quick, sharp strikes as the heartless was forced to relinquish his vice grip on his friend. Ed had landed on his feat with an unusual deftness, as did Eddy. The two had then looked at each other, the heartless, and then each other again.

"Shall we?" Eddy asked.

"Ladies first!" Ed replied dumbly, a dopy grin stitched across his face.

Xxx

"So, that was the test, huh?" The cloaked figure asked, in a different tone than to the others but still a male all the same.

"They are weak, but, they're still developing." The other replied "I see potential in them all..."

"I say you're just being stupid, I mean look at them they're just kids!" The female said in exasperation. She sighed and shook her head, before looking into the glowing orb "There's just no way that those kids are anything special, except the ones who wield the Keyblade."

"The Keyblade is just a means to get rid of the heartless for good; I see true strength in the one who uses darkness..." The enigma stated, gazing into the glowing orb as well, as he saw Eddy and Ed destroy one of the hands together, while dodging a punch from the other.

"Oh yeah, well, I suppose we will have to see..." The other mysterious man muttered.

Xxx

"Fire!" Double D exclaimed, as he fired a fireball at one of the heartless' feet, blowing it up in the

process.

"Okay, we just need to destroy the other foot." Alex said, as a large amount of darkness had formed in his hand. However, instead of releasing it into a fireball he had imbued the darkness into his sword, before dashing towards the Opposite Armor.

*BOOOM*

Alex had swung his sword so hard, that an explosion had occurred propelling the heartless all way across the second district and also destroyed both the remaining foot and the hand, leaving only the main body left. Alex, thinking he had won, had turned away from the heartless.

"Don't mess with the best!" Alex exclaimed triumphantly, however he was quickly struck with an energy ball to the back, knocking him out instantly.

"Alex!" The Eds screamed, glancing towards the heartless. It had quickly begun to charge another energy attack.

"Guys, move!" Nazz commanded, as the energy ball was fired. The three rolled out of the way of the attack, dodging it just in time.

"What do we do now then?!" Double D questioned anxiously, nervously examining his fallen friend.

"You guys look after Alex, I'll take care of this guy!" Nazz replied, glaring at the Opposite Armor. The heartless once again began to charge up, although this time it aimed at her. The heartless had fired the attack off, but Nazz had sliced the energy ball in half. "No dice!" Nazz had then dashed towards the opponent, leaping high into the air.

*SLICE*

Nazz had sliced the heartless in half with ease, before landing to the ground. The Opposite Armor had suddenly just fallen to the ground as a heart had gracefully risen to the sky, causing the heartless to merely vanish into thin air.

"Nazz, you did it!" Kevin exclaimed proudly, running to her, hugging her tightly in the process.

"Umm, Kev..." Nazz muttered, glaring suspiciously at Kevin. He realized at what he did, and let go of Nazz shortly.

"Oops, sorry..." Kevin mumbled, blushing in embarrassment.

"Slow down there Casanova." Eddy remarked sharply.

"Shut it dork!" Kevin replied in equal sharpness. A shuffling was heard, as Alex had risen from the ground while clutching his head.

"Ugh, what happened? I feel like I was hit by a truck..." Alex asked, shaking his head.

"You got knocked out again." Eddy replied, smirking "You thought you had him, you thought wrong."

"I suppose I was too overconfident then?" Alex asked.

"Yeah, just a bit..." A voice remarked sarcastically. The group turned around to find Leon, folding his arms. "You can't go into battle with that sort of mind set, you'll get killed in no time... but, you're just a kid..."

"Oh yeah? And where were you then, tough guy?" Alex questioned, dusting himself off.

"Watching you, that's what..." Leon replied "I suppose you've found this world's keyhole, aren't you going to lock it?"

"Yeah ok!" Sora said, pointing his keyblade at the lock. Suddenly, a bright beam of light had hit the lock, locking the world.

"Sora, there's something I must tell you about, follow me." Leon said, walking to the third district.

Xxx

"Look at him, playing with his new friends..." A female, malevolent voice hissed. Sora was seen through the window while laughing with Donald and Goofy. Kevin was seen giving Eddy a headlock, while Alex and Squall put their palms on their faces in disbelief.

"No, it can't be true..." Riku muttered "Alex too? And after all I taught him..."

"Don't worry about that Riku, work with me, I'm your ally now." The witch enticed, grinning evilly towards him. Riku remained silent, merely staring at Sora.

Xxx

"Any luck finding your friends Sora?" Squall asked.

"Well, we sorta found Riku, but **somebody **scared him away." Sora replied, glaring daggers at Donald.

"What? What did I do!?" Donald questioned, pointing his finger squarely at Sora's shoulder.

"Hey guys, come on, let's stop fighting." Nazz reasoned, "We're all in this together."

"Well that sounds all well and good then, don't worry Sora, you'll find 'em!" Yuffie reassured.

"It's harder than it sounds, what If I never find them?" Sora pondered wearily, lowering his head solemnly to the ground.

"What, so you're going to give up, just like that?" Kevin scorned harshly, "What are ya, a wimp? Jeez, and I thought the Eds were dorks..." Sora didn't reply, only sighing instead.

"Okay, we'll leave it at that." Alex stated "Come on Sora, as long as you believe, you'll find what you're looking for." Sora looked up, and as a glimmer of hope twinkled in his eyes, a smile crept upon his face.

"Thanks, Alex." Sora said, placing his hands behind his head "You made me realize, that no matter how hard it is, that I should never give up!"

"No problem Sora, come on, we should get going." Alex suggested, as he reared himself to leave.

"Wait, before you go, have you ever heard of anyone name Maleficent?" Squall asked.

"No, why?" Eddy asked as he scratched his head.

"She is a powerful witch whose power's specializes in darkness, be careful; she's a formidable opponent." Squall warned, folding his arms

"Yeah, she destroyed our world a long time ago, and now controls it with her darkness..." Yuffie muttered.

"So like I said, be careful..." Leon warned.

"Sure, why not? I mean, we are the Keyblade wielders after all..." Eddy mumbled.

"Lothar shall slay the witch!" Ed exclaimed, getting into a heroic pose. The entire group laughed, even Alex. However, he quickly stopped laughing as he looked out of the window, catching a glimpse of Riku and the aforementioned Maleficent 'I wonder what they're doing here...'

Xxx

"This is Nightwing, over!" Alex said over the radio. The black gummi ship then flew beside Donald's ship, as Alex waved at them. Kevin merely stood beside him, folding his arms. "Jeez, lighten up Kevin."

"Umm, Donald?" Goofy queried.

"What is it Goofy?" Donald replied.

"Chip and Dale have sent us a message that the Olympic Coliseum has a new tournament called the Phil Cup, you don't have to go, but it could be fun!" Goofy suggested.

"We would be wasting time, plus you know what Alex is like." Donald stated.

"I heard that." Alex informed over the radio.

"You were supposed to." Donald harshly replied. Meanwhile, the Eds, Nazz and Sora were having a discussion between each other.

"Sora, can I ask you something?" Nazz asked.

"Sure, anything." Sora replied.

"Who is stronger, you or Riku?" Nazz asked.

"Riku, of course he beat me at everything but then, I beat him too so I dunno..." Sora replied, "Why do you ask?"

"No reason." Nazz said.

"Well, I bet I could beat him blind folded!" Eddy boasted, puffing his chest.

"I doubt it, he's really strong and fast, you'd lose in a second." Sora claimed, crossing his arms in a mannerly fashion.

"Well I'm fast too, and with two Keyblade's I could whip him like cream!" Eddy remarked, grinning from ear to ear.

"Oh yeah, we'll see, maybe you'll get to fight sometime huh?" Sora pondered, staring at Eddy.

"Maybe, I'm sure I'll win though." Eddy replied arrogantly "Nobody can beat me, I'm King Eddy, Master of the Keys."

Xxx

"Hey Alex..." Kevin muttered.

"Yeah, what's up?" Alex asked.

"Are we going to the Olympic Coliseum?" Kevin asked.

"Sure, why not." Alex replied nonchalantly.

"But what about our friends?" Kevin asked.

"We'll find them, don't worry. In the mean time, this could be a good experience for all of you." Alex suggested.

"Why?" Kevin wondered.

"Remember what that creep said? That you were the strongest he fought? Let's put it to the test." Alex replied. "Plus, it'll teach you how to fight."

"Okay, whatever you say." Kevin said, smirking "I'll do my best."

"Donald, Goofy, head for the Olympic Coliseum." Alex ordered.

Xxx

"Well, It seems they are going to the tournament." Maleficent said, looking into the image of the two gummi's travelling to their destination. Riku stood by, watching.

"And why are we here then? Shouldn't we grab the princess now while they're busy?" Riku questioned.

"All in due time Riku; meanwhile, I want you to do me a favour..." Maleficent muttered gravely, as she began to cackle quietly. Suddenly, Jonny had appeared from the darkness.

"What are you going to do to me!?" Jonny questioned, quivering at the sight of Riku. Riku, looking suspiciously at Maleficent, then turned to Jonny.

"We're going to give you a bit of an, attitude adjustment..." Riku uttered, walking ominously towards Jonny.

"No, wait, NOOO!!" Jonny cried.

Xxx

The clouds in the air had still covered the blue sky, as a small breeze had fluttered between the hairs of each of the party.

"Okay guys, who's going to fight in the tournament this time?" Alex asked.

"I'll go alone." Kevin stated.

"Why is that then, friend?" Alex questioned.

"I have something to prove, okay?" Kevin replied sharply. Alex nodded in approval, before staring at the rest of the party.

"Okay then, Kevin is soloing. I nominate Nazz and Eddy to fight together and Sora, Double D and Ed will fight together." Alex instructed "Any objections?" The area was silent, as only the blowing of the serene winds had filled the air. "Good, I didn't think so, alright let's go." The party then went inside the lobby, confronting Phil.

Xxx

"So, what do I do then?" a familiar voice asked "I just whip their butts and steal their hearts right?"

"Pretty much." Riku replied "Don't let your guard down either." 

"Sure thing, this will be a cakewalk!" The figure claimed, before strolling away confidently. Riku had looked on before he had sighed with contempt

"Something doesn't seem right, with Maleficent manipulating his heart. But, I've got to do it, for Kairi..." Riku muttered, before he too had walked away.

Xxx

"Round 1: Kevin versus Jungle Vice!" Phil announced, as 4 Powerwilds and 3 Soldier heartless had appeared.

"Okay, I can do this..." Kevin muttered, as Alex, Donald and Goofy cheered him on. The Eds, Sora and Nazz were busy preparing for the second round.

"Come on Kevin, kick some heartless butt!" Alex cheered vigorously. Kevin had smirked, facing his enemies.

"Alright, who wants to go first? How about you!" Kevin exclaimed, as he leaped towards one of the soldier heartless. He lunged at the heartless with his spear, piercing it through its chest and relinquishing a heart from the beast. A powerwild had dashed at Kevin with its sharp paw outstretched, however Kevin had rolled out of the way.

"Jump!" Kevin roared, as he leapt high into the air, so high that he was merely a speck in the air.

"Wow, Kevin's good, really good." Alex said, folding his arms.

"Yeah, almost as good as you Alex." Donald remarked, staring into the sky.

"Hmph..." Alex replied, also looking at the sky, "Here he comes..." Kevin then came crashing down on the powerwild, destroying it completely and also releasing a massive shockwave, destroying the rest of the enemies that surrounded him.

"Round 1 complete!" Phil announced "Kevin is the victor!" Kevin had twirled his spear in his hand like a martial artist, before smirking.

"Too easy." Kevin said, flashing a cheeky smirk "Looks like I'm the best!"

Xxx

"Wow, that guy's good!" The familiar exclaimed "What if I face him?" 

"Don't worry, he took out the weaklings, he's tough but you should beat him easily." Riku replied.

"And the other guy?" The figure asked.

"He's not in the competition, so he can't interfere." Riku replied, "Just make sure you destroy them quickly, and like I said don't let your guard down."

"Sure thing, it'll be easy." The familiar stated, once again strolling away from Riku. There was a noticeable swagger about the figure, something didn't seem right. Riku, sighing had soon followed behind.

"Something doesn't feel right..." Riku muttered. Meanwhile...

Xxx

"Round 2: Eddy and Nazz versus Monkey and Magic!" Phil announced. Five yellow operas, two green requiems, two red nocturnes and 1 powerwilds had confronted the duo of Nazz and Eddy.

"You ready, Eddy?" Nazz asked, getting in a fighting stance.

"Sure thing, sugar." Eddy replied, as he dashed towards the heartless. Nazz glared at Eddy, grabbing him by his three hairs before he got to the heartless.

"What. Did. You. Say?" Nazz questioned through gritted teeth. Eddy had smiled nervously at Nazz, glancing between her and the heartless before gulping.

"Umm..." Eddy muttered, before Nazz had lifted him up with unnatural strength.

"Alright Eddy, you asked for it!" Nazz exclaimed angrily, throwing him at the powerwild. Eddy had collided so hard with the powerwild that the heartless had dissipated. Eddy had rose slowly to his feet, using his keyblade as a crutch.

"Wow Nazz how did you get so strong?" Eddy asked, facing the large amount of enemies left.

"I'm a babysitter; it's one of the things we need do to." Nazz replied. The yellow operas had surrounded Eddy in a circle, as they charged up their thunder attacks.

"Umm, Nazz, a little help here!!!" Eddy exclaimed anxiously, as he braced himself for the pain he was about to receive.

"Alright, fine, if it stops you whining." Nazz said, as she leapt towards the heartless, slicing it in half. This attracted the attention of the other heartless to Nazz, concentrating their attacks on her instead "And there's more where that came from." However, Eddy had sliced the rest of the heartless in half in a blink of an eye, kneeling to the ground afterwards in a flashy manner. He then rose to the ground, pointing his keyblade at the red nocturnes.

"You're next!" Eddy exclaimed, although in a rather anti-climactic manner, two fireballs were fired straight into Eddy's face from the red nocturnes, sending him flying against one of the pillars as he landed on his bottom.

"Eddy!" Nazz shouted, as she glanced at her fallen friend. She then glared at the remaining heartless as she was glowing with a vibrant, blinding light. "You'll regret that!" Nazz had quickly dashed towards the two red heartless, slicing them up with ease. She then leapt towards the green requiems and sliced them up almost instantly. Eddy had slowly gotten up, dusting himself off.

"Ow, that hurt!" Eddy moaned, rubbing his head. Nazz's aura had soon dimmed until she had returned to normal, and saw Eddy back on his feet.

"Eddy! You're okay!" Nazz exclaimed, running towards him. She then hugged him tightly, causing Eddy to blush in a bright red. 'Oh boy, what I've always wanted!' Eddy thought, as his lips were pursed together in an attempt to kiss Nazz. However, she grabbed a hold of his lips, while glaring at Eddy "I didn't say you could kiss me though."

"Round 2 has ended! Nazz and Eddy are the victors!" Phil had stated, as Alex, Donald and Goofy had looked on.

"Wow, that was... unique." Alex had muttered, while chuckling underneath his breath. "Just wait till Kevin sees this."

"Eddy and Nazz make a good team, don't ya think?" Goofy suggested.

"Yeah, like fire and water." Donald remarked sarcastically, cackling at his own joke. Alex himself, had also chuckled.

Xxx

"These children are showing promise..." The cloaked enigma muttered "It's almost as if they've grown since the last fight, and that wasn't long ago."

"You and your theories, they almost got us killed once!" The female enigma scorned, looking into the green orb, seeing the image of Nazz pulling Eddy by his ear. "What's special about them, they hate each other more than they hate the heartless."

"Don't you see? They don't hate each other; this is just their childish nature at work." The enigma replied "I expect growth in them all, especially the kid who uses darkness."

"Oh, don't you start that again..." Another male enigma groaned, different from the other male from last time. He wore a black cloak with dark green patterns, "Sooner or later, the darkness will swallow his heart, and he'll be nothing but a shell with a soul."

"I doubt it." The enigma rebuked.

"And why is that?" The other enigma questioned "What makes him different from the rest of his incompetent friends?"

"He's not what he seems to be..." The enigma replied, before cackling evilly into the darkness...

Xxx

"Round 3: Sora, Ed and Edd vs Big Feet!" Phil exclaimed. Four Powerwilds and a pair of legs from a heartless similar to the Guard Amour had appeared. Sora and Ed were at the front, whilst Double D stood behind the duo as backup.

"Okay, ready guys?" Sora asked.

"Yeah!" Ed replied excitedly, rushing towards the group of heartless. Sora had soon run behind, with Double D lagging behind. Ed had swiped his keyblade at one of the Powerwild's, however it dodged the attack by rolling to the side. Another had slid towards him, however Sora had ran in front of Ed and blocked the attack with his keyblade.

"Gotcha covered Ed!" Sora exclaimed, as a Powerwild had leapt high into the air towards him.

"Lightning!" Double D shouted, as he pointed his keyblade at the sky. A bolt of lightning had struck the feral beast, electrocuting it. It dropped to the ground, and dissipated. The Hammerlegs had strolled towards Double D to isolate him, slowly stalking the young keyblade master.

"Come on Double D, you can do it!" Alex exclaimed. The two legs had then geared up an attack from each other, before cornering Double D.

"Oh dear..." Double D muttered, as he shielded himself with his keyblade.

*SLASH*

The Hammerlegs were sliced in half, and as they fell Sora was revealed in front of Edd as he slung the keyblade of his back.

"Nothing to it!" Sora had exclaimed proudly, smirking towards Double D.

"Behind you!" Double D warned, a Powerwild was seen mid air as Sora had turned around got ready. He dodged the attack, before glowing blue...

"Sonic Blade!" Sora shouted, as he had dashed towards the heartless at massive speed in a thrusting motion, stabbing it through the creature and relinquishing a heart. He then slid towards the other Powerwild next to him and stabbed it with a thrusting motion, destroying it. Sora, however was tired, and had fell to the ground in exhaustion. The final Powerwild had merely walked towards him, and as he got close to Sora, and raised its paw to strike. However, it was frozen to the spot, and moments later disappeared and released a heart.

"Thanks Ed." Sora said, standing up and using his keyblade as a crutch.

"It's nothing, I, Ed the Saviour help everyone!" Ed replied, a wide smile stitched across his face.

"Sora, Ed and Double D are the winners!" Phil announced. The crowd, or mainly Alex, Donald and Goofy had cheered on their friends.

Xxx

"Okay, I destroyed those heartless things!" The familiar informed, as he folded his arms.

"Good, now they had no choice but to fight each other, and then you take out the one who's left." Riku briefed "Understand?"

"Yeah yeah, I just wanna fight!" The figure replied, as he walked away with a self-assured swagger.

Xxx

The group were reunited, as they stood together. Apparently, the heartless that were supposed to appear, were didn't.

"What? What do you mean?" Alex asked.

"What I mean is that they aren't here, like they just up and vanished!" Phil replied sharply, "And that means we'll have to have a royale, you don't like it? Tough!"

"Are you guys fine with it?" Alex queried, glancing at his friends. They all seemed determined, but especially Kevin, who had a burning desire glowing in his eyes.

"I'm fine with it, plus after the royal, we get to go against the strongest guy here right?" Kevin asked.

"Yep, this guy's proper strong, a bit of a loon but really tough!" Phil answered, "In fact, I'm not sure you'll last."

"Well, that settles it..." Alex mumbled. He sighed, as he thought about the "shortage of heartless", 'This seems suspicious, but I suppose it teaches them how to fight' Alex thought.

Xxx

"Round 4, a battle royale consisting of Ed, Eddy, Edd, Nazz, Kevin and Sora! Whoever wins gets to fight our toughest competitor in the final round!" Phil announced. The 6 looked between each other, eyeing the others movement. Shifting looks, they slowly stalked each other as they tried to 'bait' their adversary. Kevin took the first move, dashing towards Ed with an arm outstretched.

"Here ya go, dork!" Kevin exclaimed, as he lunged at Ed with his spear. Ed however, had expertly dodged the attack, rolling out of the way. Eddy dashed at Kevin while he was distracted, lifting his arm up high into the air. Kevin turned around to his assailant, and raised his weapon up as Eddy had violently brought down his keyblade on Kevin. He then jumped back from Eddy, raising a fist towards him.

"Hey, what are you doing!? Are you trying to get me killed!?" Kevin bellowed angrily, however he felt something sharp in his back.

"Heya Kev!" Turning his head around, he saw Nazz smiling at him with a rather cheerful smile "How's it going?"

"Not too good..." Kevin replied. Sora and Ed were in a battle of their own, Ed had swiped at Sora with his keyblade, however Sora had the speed to be able to roll out of danger. Sora had then charged at Ed with his keyblade in a lunging motion.

"You ready Ed?" Sora asked, as he connected with the attack and sent Ed flying into Eddy, knocking them both to the ground.

"Ooh..." Eddy moaned, glancing at Ed. Kicking him off his body, he rose to his feet as he saw Sora rushing towards him "Oh man..." Eddy had held his keyblade in front of him, as Sora had struck down his keyblade on Eddy's. The two had then engaged in a power struggle, both of their arms straining in the struggle. Sora however, was gaining the upper hand, as Eddy was slowly brought to one knee.

"Don't worry Eddy, you're not the only one." Sora said.

"Let him go." Sora turned his head around sharply, only to be met with the glare of Nazz. His shifted concentration meant that Eddy could kick Sora towards Nazz, as he fell to his knees. Sora had bumped into Nazz, knocking her back slightly. She stared through him, unnerving Sora a bit.

"Uh oh..." Sora mumbled, as Nazz advanced towards him.

"Fire!" Double D exclaimed as a fireball had suddenly exploded between Nazz and Sora, as they looked towards Double D. The two then stared at each other, nodded, and then stared at Double D. "Oh dear..."

"Don't worry Double D, I'll protect ya! Ed exclaimed.

"Me too!" Eddy shouted, as both stood at either side of him. Kevin stood by Sora, as the trio looked to bombard the other trio, when suddenly...

*BOOM*

All six looked at the wall, with a wall of smoke coming through.

"Who could that be?" Alex pondered, staring hard into the smoke. He then gasped, realizing who it was. A figure had then stepped out of the smog, a smirk creeping on his face, wielding a large hammer.

"Jonny?" Eddy asked, looking at his 'friend'. Did he cause the destruction of the wall? He ran towards the arena, as the six had banded together.

"He does know there's a barrier right?" Nazz asked. However, just as she said that, Jonny took a massive swing with his massive hammer and smashed into the barrier, causing it to break.

"Whoa! Cool!" Ed exclaimed, clapping at Jonny.

"So, who first?" Jonny asked, pointing at Ed "How about you?" Jonny dashed towards Ed, raising his weapon and powerfully bringing it down on him. Ed, however had blocked the attack, causing a dent in the ground.

"Jonny! What are you doing!?" Double D questioned.

"Shut it!" Jonny replied forcefully, smashing Ed in the ribs and sending him fling into the crowd, which was right next to Alex. Ed landed on his back besides Alex, unconscious.

"Ed!?" Alex questioned, "Don't worry Ed, I'll Sort this out. Donald, Goofy, look after him for me!" Donald and Goofy had nodded, as Alex had jumped into the air. Meanwhile, Jonny looked at Kevin, the 'worthy opponent'.

"What about you?" Jonny asked. Alex had landed in front of Jonny just a few feet away from him, summoning his sword.

"It's me you want Jonny!" Alex exclaimed, as he got ready.

"Hey, I know you! This should be fun." Jonny said, as he charged at Alex. Alex had done the same, as he quickly struck with his sword. Jonny had parried his blow, as he went for the counterattack. Alex had rolled of the way, and whilst still on one knee, looked at his friends.

"Guys, get out of here, I'm gonna find a way to save Jonny okay?!" Alex explained. The group had nodded, before running to the stands.

"So, it's just us huh?" Jonny asked. Alex had stood up, staring hard at Jonny as he slowly stepped towards him "So you're gonna save me huh? You're gonna need saving soon pal." Alex had looked at Jonny; a black aura had covered Jonny like smog.

"Jonny, something's not right..." Alex mumbled.

"You're tellin' me, you're not gone yet!" Jonny replied, dashing towards Alex with great speed. He raised his hammer into the air, aiming for Alex's head. Alex had raised his sword above his head with his hand behind the blade, parrying his adversary's blow.

"Jonny! Break out of the spell please!" Alex pleaded, arms struggling as Jonny forced him to his knees. Alex had glanced into Jonny's eyes as a tear came out. Jonny saw the tear, and realizing what he had done, had simply let go of his hold on Alex and dropped his weapon; the "shroud of darkness" clearing away from him.

"Alex, is that you?" Jonny asked, glancing at his friend. Alex stood up, as a smile crept across his face.

"Jonny, it is you!" Alex exclaimed "Yeesh Jonny, you almost killed me!"

"I did?" Jonny asked, a perplexed look painted on his face.

"Yeah, I'll tell you about it later." Alex said, smiling "Ah well, at least you're back to normal." Meanwhile...

Xxx

As he saw what happened, Riku punched the wall in frustration. A tear came out of his eye, as he thought of his failure.

"This wasn't supposed to happen, he should have eliminated them, but I suppose the darkness is unpredictable..." Riku muttered, staring at Jonny and Alex conversing from the distance. "But, no matter what happened, when he saw his friend in pain the darkness had left him."

"Riku, is the job done?" A voice asked. Riku turned around, seeing Maleficent staring at Riku boldly.

"You're the mistress of darkness, you should know." Riku replied harshly, sighing loudly.

"The darkness is a powerful weapon, it made that boy strong, and it can make you strong too Riku." Maleficent rambled, turning her head towards the boy.

"What are you trying to say?" He asked, staring dejectedly at the ground. Maleficent didn't reply, as she merely teleported away from him. "Figures..." Riku, then sighed, as he walked through a portal of darkness.

Xxx

"I did THAT?" Jonny asked, pointing at the destroyed section of the wall.

"It wasn't all you, the darkness helped." Alex replied, smirking "It can do that at times."

"And I almost destroyed everyone?" Jonny asked.

"Pretty much." Eddy replied "Ed has bruised ribs."

"Really? I'm sorry Ed..." Jonny muttered, shaking his Ed.

"Ah don't worry about it, as long as we have each other right?" Ed asked, as everyone agreed with him. The group were inside the room with the trophies, as they stared at one of them.

"Hey, since Jonny had interrupted the 'Phil Cup' who gets it?" Alex asked, staring at the tiny bronze cup.

"Ah, it doesn't matter, I'll just give to Sora." Phil replied.

"What? I deserve it!" Kevin exclaimed, pointing at Sora "He's just a dork!"

"Maybe, but he's a better hero than you, you got schooled by a girl!" Phil answered back sharply, before laughing. The group joined in as well, pointing as they did so.

"Hey, what's that supposed to mean?" Nazz asked, scratching her head, as the group guffawed loudly.

Xxx

"So, that's it?" The cloaked female asked, sighing impatiently "Where's the so called potential?"

"Don't you worry, I'm sure it will reveal itself, he is 'special' after all." The other replied, leaning against the wall as he glanced at the sphere.

"How? They're just kids, nothing special there..." The other cloaked man replied, "Even that kid using the darkness seems to be a tool."

"Trust me, you'll know soon enough..." The man replied, smirking 'I know who you are now kiddo, you're...'

TBC...


	9. A whole new world

Kingdom Eds

Chapter 9: A whole new world

"So Alex, where to now?" Kevin asked.

"Wherever the others go I guess, I don't really have a clue..." Alex replied sullenly "Although I could give a good guess."

"Where?" Kevin asked, as he shuffled closer to the cockpit, Jonny following closely.

"Through _that..."_ Alex answered nervously, pointing towards the wormhole type looking thing. Jonny and Kevin gasped in both amazement and fear, trembling at the site.

"Is that a black hole!" Kevin questioned worriedly.

"Not quite..." Alex replied, "But expect a bumpy ride all the same..." He looked at the wormhole, a small frown creeping across his face.

Xxx

Ed and Eddy also looked outside of the window, witnessing the wormhole. They looked shocked. Why would they go into a wormhole?

"Hey, what's that thingamajig?" Eddy asked curiously, pointing at the wormhole. Ed had perked up, like a light bulb had lit up inside his head.

"Oh oh, I know! It's a hole!" Ed exclaimed proudly with a childish, almost cheesy grin "What do I win?"

"Ed you Idiot, of course it's a hole! What I want to know is what TYPE of hole!" Eddy shouted furiously.

"It's a wormhole; it allows us to travel to other worlds." Goofy stated, pointing at the wormhole, "It's as harmless as a fly." Double D then walked up to the cockpit, examining the large wormhole. He saw many swirly patterns, with what looked like blue and orange electricity fizzling from it. He placed a small palm on his chin, as he paused to ponder on what the object was.

"Hmm, strange, according to the laws of physics wormholes don't even exist..." Double D muttered.

"In that case, neither should Keyblades..." Sora replied, flashing a cheeky smirk towards his comrade.

"I guess so..." Double D replied.

"Get ready; we're going through in 3, 2, 1..." Goofy announced "Blast off!" As the gummi ship had travelled through the wormhole, with Alex's gummi following suit.

Xxx

"So, they're through..." The enigma muttered "And now for the next step."

"What, to see them fail?" The hooded female asked, sighing as she did so "Why bother with these kids?"

"I agree, the useless codgers have seen the light of day for longer than they should." Another man stated "Their inexperience will be their downfall."

"Oh, you'll see..." The enigma replied, an ominous smile slipped across his face.

Xxx

"See, now that wasn't so bad was it?" Donald asked, glancing towards the group. They looked surprised, nothing happened. "Anyway, we're almost there, I think I can see something." As he said that, Ed and Eddy had gotten closer to the cockpit, seeing the world they were to land on.

"Is that a giant kitten?" Ed asked excitedly, pointing towards the giant tiger head.

"I dunno Ed, but I do know that I REALLY hate sand..." Eddy muttered gravely.

"Don't worry; we'll be landing soon..." Donald replied.

Xxx

"WAARK! I can't find the street rat!" A red and blue parrot exclaimed. A tall man in red robes, enveloped in mystery and intrigue. He had a very long beard, and wielded a large wooden staff in the shape of a snake.

"And the princess, Iago?" The man asked, sighing at the situation.

"Can't find her either Jafar..." Iago muttered "Almost as if she disappeared."

"I see you lost her." A voice said. Iago and Jafar turned around to face Maleficent, the supreme witch of darkness.

"We'll find her soon enough, eventually there won't be enough holes for the street rats to hide in." Jafar replied confidently, turning away from her once more "Besides, I doubt that the princess is so important to us anyway..."

"We need 7 princesses of heart to unlock the final door, any less is useless." Maleficent replied "Have you found the keyhole as well?"

"We've had no such luck yet, but we are searching." Jafar answered.

"Be wary of the darkness, it will swallow you whole if you're not careful." Maleficent advised prudently, smirking at Jafar before walking through portal of darkness.

"We must flush out the street rats..." Jafar muttered "The darkness cannot swallow me, I'm too strong." Jafar then snapped his fingers, as bandit heartless appeared "Find them!" The heartless then scattered throughout Agrabah, whilst Jafar had stormed through the city gates. A young woman had then appeared from behind the market stand, wearing a blue vest and puffy trousers, sporting a golden crown. She had fairly dark skin and brown eyes, as she glanced at the cerulean sky.

"Aladdin..." She muttered, as she pondered the "street rat's" fate...

Xxx

"Not too shabby!" Eddy exclaimed "The sand may be bogus, but I could get used to this!" Eddy glanced around the city of Agrabah, a large smirk on his face. Alex had stood shortly behind him, staring confusedly at Eddy whilst scratching his head.

"Eddy, this place is practically derelict..." Alex muttered, walking forward a bit. He sighed, not because of the practically empty hallways, but because of his encounter of this world's particular villain, Jafar. 'If he sees me, he'll try to expose me...'

"So mister 'I know everything' what do you think?" Eddy asked almost comically, scrunching his face to protect his eyes from the sand.

"This place is a dump, that's what I think." Alex replied equally as comical, "Full of sand, nobody here, the place is boarded up; potential encounters with the heartless..." Suddenly a large bandit type heartless that resembled the large body heartless had appeared, bracing the group for the attack.

"You know Alex, we're gonna have to stop you from jinxing us!" Kevin exclaimed, wielding his large spear "I dunno what this heartless is called, but he looks like a bruiser!"

"Shall we find out?" Alex asked, "Ed, go get him!"

"Yes sir!" Ed roared, brandishing his keyblade "Lothar shall slay you!"

"You know, that's really getting old..." Eddy muttered, placing his palm on his face.

"Ditto" The rest of the group muttered, as Ed had darted towards the large heartless. Raising his keyblade high, he attempted to slam down strongly on the heartless' body, only to bounce back. The heartless, had raised its large paw, before bringing it down greatly on Ed. Ed, however had reacted quick enough to roll out of the way, before parrying a large fireball into the large beast after it had fired a flame ball at Ed.

"Go on, you can do it Ed!" Nazz exclaimed. Ed had glanced at Nazz before blushing; however he noticed a large spray of fire coming towards him, rolling out of the way in the process. Twirling his keyblade in an almost flashy manner, he glared at the monster.

"Now you're getting your just desserts!" Ed exclaimed valiantly, as he dashed towards the heartless. Then, mustering all of his strength into a single stabbing attack, he had pierced through the front of the heartless; it dissipated into nothing but a dark smog as it released a heart.

"Well, if Ed can take 'em..." Eddy muttered gravely, stepping forward towards the gate. The group had followed shortly, as they walked though the entrance towards the market place...

Xxx

"So, what do I do then?" Riku asked, boring deep into Maleficent with his sharp gaze.

"Alex will provide a distraction alongside his companions against Jafar, while you capture the princess." Maleficent replied, smirking at him. Riku looked surprised, raising an eyebrow towards Maleficent.

"Huh? Alex is working with us? But you said-"

"Yes, I know what I said Riku. I only said that to give you motivation. Don't worry about Alex, you just worry about the girl." Maleficent muttered, as she disappeared into thin air. Sighing, Riku stared at the ground.

Riku muttered "Oh well, as long as Kairi is safe, that's all that matters."

Xxx

The group moved through the entrance to the empty bazaar, they saw many stalls throughout the bazaar and to the right of them saw platforms of which to climb on. As the party took small steps forward, two bandit heartless had appeared suddenly, swinging their swords in the air.

"You know guys, this is going to become really boring eventually." Alex remarked sullenly, summoning his sword. As he dashed at the heartless, a pot spider heartless had suddenly crashed into him, sending him into the stall. Nazz had summoned her sword, as she leapt towards the pot spider heartless and destroyed it with a single swipe.

"Nazz!" Kevin exclaimed, as two swords were sent flying towards Nazz. Her life had flashed before her eyes; however Ed had leapt in front of her to deflect the swords.

"Thanks Ed!" Nazz said, as she glanced at Alex. He rose to his feet, brushing himself off.

"You know, that would be funny, if it didn't happen to me..." Alex muttered, summoning his sword again. He jumped out of the store, staring at the heartless. Just as he was about to run at the heartless and attack, he saw Kevin jump into the air:

"Jump!" Kevin exclaimed, as he raised his spear upwards. Soon after, he had crashed into the ground between the two bandit heartless, causing a shockwave which had destroyed the two of them instantly. The group sighed, as Alex had looked around the area.

"Alright, where to next?" Alex asked, as he wandered around the bazaar. The others did the same, before Ed began to chant excitedly.

"Ooh ooh, look what I found!" Ed exclaimed excitedly, pointing at a noticeable looking building. The group had looked at what Ed looked at: an empty space where the door should be and was filled with a pole which went upwards into the building it seemed.

"Shall we go in?" Sora asked, putting his hand in his pocket.

"Maybe later, first we must explore this place a little more." Donald replied. The group agreed, as they walked to the centre of the bazaar. They noticed that one of the entrances to another part of the town was boarded up with wood, barrels and crates, so that left only one option: the alley way on their left

Xxx

"I hope Aladdin's okay..." Jasmine muttered, as she hid in between a couple of crates in the corner of the alleyway. Sighing, she saw a group of strange people walk through the alleyway.

"Another dead end guys." Alex muttered. He scanned around, before catching a glimpse of Jasmine, "Huh?"

"Hello, who's there?" Jasmine asked quietly. The group turned towards the crate, seeing Jasmine.

"Who are you?" Sora asked, smiling towards her. Noticing they were friendly, Jasmine had gotten out of her hiding place and had revealed herself.

"Hello, my name's Princess Jasmine." She replied, bowing. The group had bowed in respect to the princess, before Alex raised an eyebrow at Jasmine.

"Why are you hiding, Jasmine?" Alex asked, scratching his head. Nazz elbowed him in the ribs, muttering:

"Stop being rude." Alex had rubbed his side, before nodding at Jasmine to speak.

"Ah yes, ever since my father disappeared Jafar the grand vizier had taken over and used these monsters to do his bidding." Jasmine had replied. She continued "However, Aladdin had helped me to escape and hide from Jafar."

"And where might I find this street rat called Aladdin, Princess?" A voice mocked from above. The party had glanced at the top platform, where they saw Jafar.

"Jasmine, run!" Sora exclaimed, summoning the keyblade.

"Ah, the boy with the key..." Jafar muttered, as three heartless bandits had appeared.

"Man, what is it with this world and heartless?" Alex asked exasperatedly, summoning his sword. The rest of the party had also summoned their weapons, as they braced themselves from an attack from the heartless.

"You know, we should charge people for stuff like this." Eddy remarked, dashing towards the heartless. He leapt high into the air with his sword raised in his hand, before bringing it down on the heartless. However, the heartless had raised its sword in the air, blocking Eddy's attack, sending Eddy back a bit before landing on his feet.

"Eddy, look out!" Nazz exclaimed, running in front of Eddy to deflect the scimitar thrown at him. Alex had then ran at the heartless that had thrown the sword at Eddy, before leaping his into the air with both arms raised high into the air with a firm grip on his sword. Then, bringing his sword down strongly on the heartless, Alex managed to slice it in half.

"One down, two to-"Alex said before being cut off, as he noticed a blur where the two bandit heartless were. The two heartless that the group were fighting suddenly vanished, causing the group to stop being in their defensive fighting styles momentarily.

"What the heck was that?" Eddy asked, searching around the alley. The others looked around too, investigating the heartless mystery, "Was that you Alex?"

"Me? Since when did I move that fast?" Alex asked, scratching his head "Whoever it was, must certainly be helping us."

"Or they could be waiting to suck our brains with a straw!" Ed exclaimed, holding his head with both hands "But I like my brain!" The group laughed at their dim-witted yet lovable oaf, he sure did bring comic relief to the group.

"What brain lumpy?" Eddy remarked slyly, causing most of the group to stop laughing besides Alex and Kevin.

"Ha ha, good one dorky!" Kevin said, smirking at Eddy.

"Yeah Eddy, probably the funniest thing you've said since ever." Alex remarked, placing a hand on Eddy's shoulder, annoying him further.

"Shut it you, at least I don't get knocked out by pots!" Eddy replied sharply, growling at Alex.

"Oh yeah, well-"

"Come on guys, stop fighting." Nazz ordered, crossing her arms "We need to find this world's keyhole so we can lock it and prevent it from going out."

"Aww, but Nazz I was about to give the perfect comeback." Alex whined childishly, kicking the sand.

"Yeah, well we need to save this world first." Nazz said in almost a motherly tone. Not wishing to pursue the point further, Alex sighed as he rested his back against the wall. Examining the alley way closely, he noticed something shaped like a keyhole.

"Hey guys, look." Alex said, pointing at the keyhole on the wall. The rest of the group looked too.

"Do you think that's the keyhole?" Double D wondered, placing his palm on his chin.

"Fat chance sock head, it's probably hidden!" Eddy replied surely.

"Well if you're so sure, why don't you go up there? Here, I'll help ya." Alex said, grabbing Eddy by his shoulders.

"Hey, what are ya doing!" Eddy questioned, struggling in Alex's grip. Suddenly, he was thrown onto the area where the keyhole shaped thing was, landing on his buttocks in the process "Ow!" Alex and Kevin had chuckled together quietly, as they looked on at their friend.

"Hey Eddy, have a nice fall?" Alex asked jokingly, before laughing loudly. Eddy grumbled lowly under his breath, as he summoned his keyblade.

"Alright, let's see what this crummy keyhole is for." Eddy grumbled, as he stuck the keyblade into the hole.

*click*

"What was that?" Goofy asked, looking around the alley.

"Probably unlocked something." Sora replied, climbing onto the crate against the ledge. He saw that the others were reluctant to climbing, before smiling at them "Come on, we've got to get across to Eddy."

"Sora, I've been beat up by a pot spider heartless, I am feeling sore all over my body. And you want me to not only climb up that crate to that ledge, but you also expect me to jump across those two wooden things to get across to him?" Alex asked patronisingly, crossing his arms "How dumb do you think I am?" Suddenly, Alex was grabbed from behind, from Ed no less.

"Alley up!" Ed exclaimed, throwing Alex up to Eddy, landing on his backside.

"Oof!" Alex grunted painfully, before getting up on his feet.

"Wow Ed, good idea!" Nazz exclaimed, as Ed had thrown every member of the group up to the two.

"Count to ten, Eddward, count to ten!"

"Yahoohoohooie!"

"Aw phooie!"

"Radical!"

"Dork!"

"Whoo hoo, how cool is this plank?"

"Aargh!" Ed was the only one left, the rest of the group was on the area now.

"Hey Ed, you coming?" Alex asked, smirking devilishly at him. Ed however had leapt up to wear the group were, landing on his feet.

"Geez Ed, what are ya?" Eddy asked exasperatedly, scratching his head.

"I am Lothar, protector of worlds and universes!" Ed exclaimed proudly as he had beaten his chest. The group managed to chuckle at Ed, as they walked through the passageway which lead to another part of Agrabah.

Xxx

"Geez, what a dump..." Eddy muttered. The party were inside the house that Ed found, it was quite a small house, only one room. There were a couple of curtains, and there was a massive hole in the wall showing the palace.

"Hey guys, look what plank found!" Jonny exclaimed, pointing to a carpet. It was moving a lot, struggling to get free from the object that it was trapped under, "Pretty cool huh?"

"Is that a magic carpet?" Alex asked, kneeling next to it.

"No Alex, it's just the wind..." Eddy retorted sarcastically, rolling his eyes in the process. Alex ignored him, as he released the carpet from where it was trapped. It suddenly flew around in the air a couple of times, before flying out of the hole in the wall.

"It looked like it went to the entrance of Agrabah." Donald analysed, crossing his arms and tapping his feet.

"Shall we be going then fellows?" Double D asked, as he walked towards the slide.

"Of course, let's go!" Sora beckoned, running through the hole on the wall and jumping down "Geronimoooo!"

"Sora!" Donald and Goofy exclaimed, looking down to where he fell. He looked okay, he was near the entrance of the city.

"Come on down guys!" Sora shouted "There's nothing to worry about!" Shrugging, Donald and Goofy both jumped down as well. The rest of the group also jumped down as well, except for Double D of course, who was really afraid of heights.

"I'm not sure I should risk anything..." Double D muttered, shaking wildly.

"Come on Double D, you've fought worse, right?" Alex asked, "You'll be fine, I'll catch you if you want."

"Well, alright then." Double D replied, reluctantly edging towards the hole in the wall. Alex and Eddy whispered to each other covertly, before snickering.

"Alright Double D, jump!" Alex shouted. Double D, closing his eyes, had a 'leap of faith' so it was towards the group. He was falling towards Alex, who caught him with both arms, "See, nothing to worry about!"

"Thank you, Alex." Double D muttered, as he was dropped on his bottom by Alex, causing Eddy to laugh loudly.

"Don't mention it pal." Alex replied in a snarky manner, chuckling menacingly to himself. Double D frowned at his so called 'friend', huffing loudly.

"Well, I never!" Double D exclaimed, sharply standing up and brushing himself off. He turned his head up high in the air, before walking away from the group at to the entrance of Agrabah. Alex and Eddy were still giggling quietly to themselves.

"You know Alex, that wasn't a nice thing to do..." Sora said, glancing over to where Double D was.

"Aaaah, he'll get over it." Alex replied nonchalantly, smirking still. The group walked to the entrance, and saw the carpet.

"Hey Double D, what does the carpet say?" Nazz asked, walking next to him.

"It wants us to follow it." Double D replied, as the carpet 'nodded' in response to what Double D said.

Xxx

The group were in a small location surrounded by palm trees and large rocks, however something was wrong.

"What? What are they?" Eddy asked, pointing towards the sand. It looked like quick sand, but it wasn't. The sound looked similar to a toilet when in its flushing movement. And suddenly, a bandit heartless began to climb up from out of the sand.

"Whoa, freaky!" Ed exclaimed, summoning his keyblade. Alex summoned his sword too, dashing towards the bandit.

"Take this!" Alex exclaimed, jumping in the air as he was raising his sword above his head. Then, with a powerful downwards slash had sliced the heartless it half. Another bandit had climbed out of the sand directly behind Alex, and as it ran towards Alex to hit him with his sword, Alex turned around and diagonally sliced the heartless in half.

"Hey guys, I found someone trapped in this quicksand stuff!" Sora exclaimed, pointing to a young man wearing white shorts, a purple vest and a small turban on his head, who was unfortunately unconscious. The group huddled around him, pondering a way to wake him up.

"Hey Ed, slap him up to wake him." Eddy suggested, as Ed saluted his short friend.

"You betcha Eddy!" Ed exclaimed, as he lifted him up. He slapped him hard in the face, waking him up.

"Uhhh, what's going on?" The man asked, opening his eyes slowly.

"Hey guys, he's awake now." Ed announced, dropping Aladdin on his feet.

"Yeah, that's great Ed..." Alex muttered "But we've got ourselves a problem!" There was an almost army of bandits ready to swarm the group, the party ready to defend themselves as they summoned their weapons. The young man had gotten out a lamp out of his pocket, before rubbing it.

"Genie, get rid of these guys!" He ordered, as a large blue being came out of the lamp.

"Wish numero uno coming up Al!" Genie exclaimed, snapping his fingers, as the heartless disappeared. The party was surprised, and looked at the large blue man in awe.

"Whoa, now that's radical!" Kevin remarked, smiling widely at the genie.

"Yeah, that's so cool dude." Nazz said excitedly. The other party members had looked on in awe, as Genie bowed like a performer.

"Thank you, thank you!" Genie said, smiling greatly.

Xxx

"Ah, the great outdoors, I love fresh air!" Genie exclaimed, flying through the air. The party were travelling in the sky via the magic carpet, Sora looking towards the Genie.

"You don't get out much, huh?" Sora asked.

"Yeah, comes with the price: Phenomenal cosmic powers, itty bitty living space." Genie replied sullenly, sighing greatly.

"Can't you just get free?" Alex asked "I mean, you're all powerful right?"

"It's part of the rules kid..." Genie answered solemnly, again sighing greatly. Aladdin saw the sad expression on Genies blue face, and began to formulate an idea.

"I've got an idea Genie, how about I wish you free, right after my second wish." Aladdin said. Genie's eyes lit up like a kid on Christmas day, and he flashed a wide bright smile towards him.

"You mean it?" Genie asked.

"Yeah, of course!" Aladdin replied, smiling "But first, I need you to make me a prince."

"Why a prince Aladdin?" Sora asked.

"Well, you see there's this girl called Jasmine. And well, she's a princess, she wouldn't want to go with a street rat like me..." Aladdin replied. The group looked at each other, before looking at Aladdin again.

"Jasmine is in danger Aladdin, Jafar has probably got her as we speak!" Double D stressed, alerting Aladdin.

"Really?" Aladdin asked, a look of despair creeping across his face.

"He's right dude, we need to save her!" Kevin explained urgently.

"Alright Genie, change of plans, the second wish can wait! We need to get Jasmine before Jafar does!" Aladdin exclaimed. The group had landed at the entrance of Agrabah, as they quickly attempted to rush to Jasmine's aid...

Xxx

"Jafar, you'll never get away with this!" Jasmine exclaimed, pressing her back against the door of the palace.

"Oh, but that's where you are wrong, sweet princess." Jafar replied coolly.

"Jafar!" The sorcerer looked behind him, seeing the party, including Aladdin.

"Aladdin!" Jasmine exclaimed excitedly "You came back!" Aladdin rubbed the lamp behind his back as to prevent Jafar from getting it, before saying:

"Genie, save Jasmine!" The blue man had appeared from nowhere, lifting up Jasmine.

"I'm afraid your second wish has been denied, street rat." Jafar stated. Aladdin, confused for a moment had saw Iago fly towards Jafar with the lamp between his beak.

"Sorry Al..." Genie muttered, before disappearing. Jasmine then fell into a pot which had turned into a pot spider.

"Jasmine!" Aladdin exclaimed, as Jafar suddenly vanished without a trace. Suddenly, many pot spider heartless had joined together, as both a head and a tail had appeared on both sides of the conjoined heartless pot spiders.

"It's become a pot centipede!" Alex exclaimed, summoning his sword. Dashing towards the head of the pot centipede, Alex had leaped high into the air and had raised his sword up high. Before landing, Alex brought his sword down sharply on the head, but...

"Aaarrgh!" Alex screamed painfully, as he was violently electrocuted.

"Alex!" Ed shouted worriedly, running to his aid. Alex was sent back a bit, crumpling to his knees in pain and exhaustion. Nazz had jumped ahead of the boys, before running around the pot centipede. Then, striking some of the pot spider heartless parts, the head and tail had removed themselves from the pot spiders causing all of the pot spiders to run around wildly.

"Thunder!" Double D had shouted, as thunder bolts had appeared from the sky to strike some of the pot spiders. After some of the pot spiders were destroyed, the rest had reformed along with the head and tail, and moved into the market place. Standing up after recuperating, Alex had had dashed towards the heartless whilst being covered by a dark smog. Staring off the pot centipede, Alex gathered a large amount of darkness in his hands as he dropped his sword on the ground. Then, cupping his hands together in a ball, he breathed in deeply.

"Darkness... FIRE!" Alex roared angrily, shooting a large beam of darkness towards the heartless, damaging it greatly. Most of the pot spiders were destroyed, and the rest had fallen to the ground along with the head and tail. Still not finished, Alex had dashed towards the heartless yet again, leaping high in the air. Then, Alex landed on the pot centipede's head by stabbing his sword through it. The pot centipede was finally destroyed, relinquishing a large blue heart; Jasmine was nowhere to be seen as she had vanished from the scene.

"Fair well, street rat..." Jafar muttered devilishly, before cackling harshly at the party.

"Jasmine, no!" Aladdin screamed helplessly, looking downwards toward the ground "I... I lost her..." Sora walked up to him, placing a hand on his shoulder.

"Aladdin, where do you think Jafar took Jasmine?" Sora asked, looking deeply at Aladdin.

"Well..." Aladdin muttered, looking up at Sora "Genie said something about a Keyhole..." The group asked, staring at Aladdin hardly.

"Really?" Alex asked, folding his arms "Where did he say it was?"

"Well, we could try the cave of wonders..." Aladdin muttered, he suddenly began to perk up, as if a light bulb had lit up inside of his head "Guys, follow me!"

Xxx

They were back to where they found Aladdin again, but there was no cave, just sand.

"Hey, what's the big idea?" Donald asked, tapping his foot impatiently. As if by magic, a giant tiger head had appeared from the ground, however something was wrong. Its eyes had an eerie, black smog covered its eyes, and a large bandit heartless and two smaller bandit heartless had appeared.

"Uh oh..." Alex muttered, summoning his blade. He then looked up at the cave of wonders forehead, before raising his eyebrows "Is that...?"

"PLANK!" Jonny screeched worriedly, summoning his large hammer. "I'll save ya buddy!"

"Jonny, no!" But it was too late, Johnny had rushed towards the cave. He leapt up in the air onto the fat bandit's head, before jumping up onto the head of the cave of wonders. Then, pulling plank out of its forehead, he held him closely.

"Don't ever scare me like that ever again buddy." Jonny scolded, wagging his finger at him.

"Jonny, look out!" Alex shouted, as balls of energy had flown into Jonny's face, sending him high into the air. He landed on his face just in front of the heartless, unconscious. The two bandit heartless threw their swords at Alex, as he deflected them away from him with his sword "Me, Ed, Eddy and Kevin will take these guys, the rest of you cure the cave!"

"You got it Al!" Eddy replied, summoning his keyblade. Ed and Kevin had ran by Alex's side with their weapons out, as they dashed towards the three heartless. Alex had swung his sword horizontally towards the bandit heartless, slicing it in half. The fat bandit heartless had gathered fire in its hands and attempted to punch downwards on Alex, however he back flipped in the air. He leapt high into the air behind the heartless, throwing his sword with all of his might behind the fat bandit, destroying it. The remaining bandit had rushed at Alex with its sword in the air as it tried to bring it down upon him, however he merely parried the blow and kicked it at Kevin, who had thrust his spear outwards through the chest of the bandit, destroying it.

"Alright, here goes... fire!" Double D shouted, firing a fireball into one of the eyes of the cave of wonders. It looked like the darkness was slowly going away, but was still there. Nazz had leapt in the air, slicing apart the balls of energy that the cave fired at her. She landed in front of the left eye, before jamming her sword in the eye. The darkness was gone, as the eye merely glowed yellow.

"Nazz!" Sora exclaimed, as a ball of energy flew her way. She blocked a little late, the blast sending her away from near the left eye and back on the ground in front of the cave. The cave of wonders began to shake its head about, as the group looked worried.

"Brace yourselves!" Alex exclaimed, shielding himself. Suddenly, the cave of wonders had let out a blast of wind, knocking over all of the party. Most of the party was knocked out, except Kevin, Eddy and Alex, who rose weakly to their feet.

"Ugh..." Alex muttered gravely, as did Eddy and Kevin. The cave of wonders was charging up energy in its right eye, the trio too tired to block. When suddenly, in the blink of an eye, the same blur back in Agrabah had appeared and hit the eye of the cave of wonders, destroying the darkness surrounding it. The blur moved around quickly, before dashing past the three, moving so fast that it left a gust of wind that knocked the three over.

"What the heck was that?" Eddy asked, rubbing his head

"No idea..." Alex muttered, slowly raising to his feet. Eddy and Kevin also had risen slowly to their feet, as they began to slowly examine their surroundings. The rest of the party had awaken and slowly risen to their feet, realizing that the Cave of wonders was back to normal. Aladdin had then stepped forward, the cave of wonders acknowledging him. It raised its chin to the ground and opened its mouth wide.

"You may pass..." The deep voice of the cave rumbling throughout the area. Aladdin ran through the mouth of the cave, with the others following with him...

(TBC...)


	10. A deal's a deal

Kingdom Eds: Rise of Darkness

Chapter 10: A deal's a deal

"And here it is: the Cave of Wonders!" Aladdin exclaimed proudly, of course there wasn't much to see in this part. A tiny hallway it was, with a deep chasm to their right. There were a few pots in this area, and there was a hole in the wall for some odd reason.

"What's that?" Eddy asked, walking closer to it. He examined the hole, before putting his head inside it "Nothing in here except... AAAH!" Eddy had soon rolled out of the way, a large stone sphere soon coming out of the hole. Alex and Kevin snickered to each other, as Eddy gave them both harsh stares.

"Curiosity killed the dork!" Kevin remarked, clutching his ribs as he guffawed loudly. Alex himself, also continued to laugh, albeit quietly. Suddenly, there was a small rumble throughout the cave, shaking the ground that the party stood on.

"W-what was that?" Edd wondered, looking around the room.

"It was I." A voice replied casually. The group turned around, to see the same figure from Traverse Town.

"You again?" Eddy asked, summoning his Keyblade. The enigma just chuckled, annoying the group greatly.

"I am not here to fight, not today." He said, gazing at the group "But I have something for you." He then dashed towards Alex in the blink of an eye, so fast that no one could see what he was doing. He gave Alex a few things, stuff he would apparently need.

"What... is this?" Alex asked, holding up a piece of paper in the air. It looked torn, like a missing page of some sort...

"Let's just say it's a present." The enigma laughed "That Jafar has found the Keyhole now; you'd do well to get to him as quick as possible."

"Alright, and where do we go?" Sora asked, folding his arms.

"You merely need to go on ahead; I cleared most of the way underground, down that chasm." He replied, gesturing towards the doorway, "I think it would be better if you hurried your journey."

"And why should we trust you?" Donald questioned, however the man merely walked through the doorway, the party staring at each other.

"Well, now what?" Alex asked "Is it a trap, should we follow him?"

"I say yes." Eddy suggested, placing his hands on his hips "I ain't going down no chasm, and I don't think letting Jafar have his way is a great idea too."

"Eddy does have a point, we cannot let Jafar have control over the Keyhole, and the heartless will destroy this world otherwise." Double D interjected. Alex nodded, pointing towards the door.

"So, we go through..." Alex muttered, leading the party onwards to their battle against Jafar.

Xxx

"Genie, for my first wish, I want you to find the Keyhole!" Jafar ordered. Genie, with a glum expression on his face, merely snapped his fingers. A small explosion was heard, as the Keyhole was soon revealed. Jafar chuckled to himself, he had captured Jasmine, found the Keyhole and had himself a powerful Genie and nothing was stopping him now.

Xxx

"Now this place is cool!" Eddy exclaimed excitedly, jumping in a pile of gold and other treasures. The group merely looked on, as they sighed at Eddy's greed.

"Come one Eddy, we don't have time for this." Alex said, looking towards the open passageway "And I don't see that guy here too."

"But we fought all of those heartless to get here; don't I at least deserve a rest and a bit of moolah?" Eddy whined, emerging from the pile of gold "Please? Pretty please?"

"Alright fine, we'll wait for a while." Alex agreed, sitting on a pile of golden treasure. The rest of the group also sat down, resting.

"Who is that guy anyway?" Nazz wondered, putting a palm on her chin "He's so mysterious..."

"Maybe he's a heartless." Goofy suggested, surprising Donald.

"That's actually not a bad idea Goofy." Donald said, thinking. Alex sighed, looking at the torn page, at the top saying '100 acre wood'.

"Hey Sora, come here a minute." Alex beckoned. Sora trudged towards him, sitting next to him.

"What's up?" He asked, as Alex shoved the page in his hands.

"You'll need a lot of these, when we get back to Traverse Town." Alex replied, standing up "Alright guys, it's time to move!" The party nodded, rising to their feet as they followed Alex through the doorway.

Xxx

"The boy again?" Maleficent asked in annoyed sigh, staring at the Keyhole of Agrabah.

"No, it was another... the one helping them." Jafar replied. Maleficent sighed, staring at the Keyhole.

"So, how are we going to go about this situation?" She asked sternly.

"Why don't you explain the situation to that boy Riku?" Jafar suggested "Doing so might prove useful to our-" Stopping in mid sentence, Jafar turned around to see the party run through the doorway. Maleficent also turned, seeing Alex amongst the party.

"Wait a second, are you... Maleficent?" Sora asked. Maleficent didn't reply, instead she just vanished without a trace.

"Jafar! Let Jasmine go!" Aladdin ordered.

"Not a chance." Jafar replied callously, "You see, she's a princess, one of seven who somehow hold the key to opening the door." Alex was confused now, what door. He worked with Maleficent long enough, but he never heard of this "But you fools won't live to see what lies beyond it."

"What do you mean open the door? What door?" Alex asked, pointing his sword at Jafar. Jafar merely ignored him, instead turning his head towards the dejected Genie.

"Genie! My second wish." Jafar said, before continuing "Crush them!"

"Genie, no! You don't have to do this!" Aladdin reasoned. The Genie merely turned his head up, a sorry expression on his face.

"Sorry Al, but the one with the lamp calls the shots. I don't have a choice." Genie explained sullenly. Suddenly, the way to the Keyhole and the exit were sealed by Jafar, as the party got themselves ready for a fight.

"Alright then Jafar, if you want a fight you'll get it!" Aladdin exclaimed, running at Jafar with his arm outstretched. Jafar however, had used his magic to levitate himself in the air.

"You're going to have to do better than that." Jafar mocked, as he pointed his staff at Aladdin. He then chanted a few words, as a magical beam shot out of the staff, hitting Aladdin square in the chest and knocking him out.

"Aladdin!" Sora shouted worryingly, running to his aid "Don't worry about us, just fight Jafar." Alex nodded, dashing at Jafar. He leapt in the air, slamming his sword into Jafar with the blunt side of his sword, as he sent him flying against the wall of the cavernous chamber.

"Aargh!" Jafar exclaimed painfully, although he'd have the last laugh as Genie grabbed Alex from behind.

"Hey, what in the name of-" Alex was interrupted, as he was thrown upwards into the ceiling by the Genie at full force, knocking him out. A loud thud was heard, signalling that Alex had landed on the floor. Hard.

"Sorry, I couldn't help it!" Genie explained, as Jafar recovered from the attack. He glanced at Alex, before chuckling.

"That's what you get for messing with me, boy!" Jafar exclaimed, levitating in the middle of the chamber. Ed and Eddy decided to double team him, as the two rushed at Jafar from both angles.

"Come on lumpy, let's do this!" Eddy exclaimed.

"What is this?" Jafar asked, glancing at the two boys running at him at full speed "Two lowly Keyblade boys?" However his words were met with Eddy's attack as he leapt high into the air. He then raised his Keyblade high in the air before quickly swiping at Jafar's face, before grabbing the handle with both hands as he slammed Jafar to the ground "Ugh!"

"Now Ed!" Eddy shouted as he landed deftly on the ground. Ed had nodded as he rushed at Jafar, who had slowly risen to his feet. He then slammed him high into the air with all of his strength, sending Jafar into the ceiling.

"Aargh!" Jafar cried painfully.

"Yeah, alright guys!" Genie cheered. Nazz and Kevin had then stood next to Eddy, their weapons in their hand. Jafar was slowly falling to the ground, as the three readied their attacks.

"Strike raid!" Eddy exclaimed, throwing his Keyblade at Jafar like a boomerang.

"Jump!" Kevin shouted, leaping high into the air above Jafar before slamming him downwards to Nazz with his spear, as Nazz was enveloped in light. She had raised her sword in the air, as Double D and Donald had empowered here weapon with lightning magic.

"Lightning barrage!" Nazz shouted loudly, leaping high into the air. Then, with a series of high speed slashes, she ended the attack with a downwards thrust as she sent Jafar into the ground. Genie was cheering; Jafar looked battered and bruised as Nazz landed deftly on her feet. But there was still a problem.

"Hey guys, Alex is still knocked out!" Jonny exclaimed, looking over him. The group ran towards him, including Aladdin who had recovered from unconsciousness.

"Give him this." Eddy said, handing Jonny a potion. Jonny, forcing the potion into Alex's mouth was able to wake him up, as the young boy began to cough. Ed was excited, grabbing Alex in a bear hug.

"YOU'RE ALIVE!" Ed exclaimed, hugging him tightly, even though Alex was becoming red in the face.

"Let... go... of... me..." Alex whispered, as Ed let him go.

"Oops, sorry." Ed said, smiling dumbly. Alex looked confused, staring at where Jafar once was.

"Umm, where is Jafar?" Alex asked, looking around the chamber. The group also searched the chamber; he was nowhere to be seen.

"Maybe we were to strong?" Kevin wondered, staring at Nazz with a smile "I know Nazz was." Nazz merely blushed, looking bashful.

"Aww, it was nothing." Nazz insisted, smiling "Should we check up on Jasmine and the Keyhole?" The group nodded, as they moved towards the Keyhole and Jasmine.

"Genie! My final wish!" The group turned again, Jafar levitated high into the air, fresh from the battle "Turn me into an all powerful Genie!" Genie shielded his eyes, before pointing at Jafar with his fingers as a beam of magic hit Jafar. Jafar was suddenly enveloped in an aura of light, as the chamber began to rumble fiercely.

"Whoa!" Eddy exclaimed, struggling to stay on his feet. The group looked downwards, and instead of the floor, they saw the underground part of the cave. It was filled with lava, lots and lots of lava. There were a few platforms though, but the fall seemed steep.

"He wants us to fight him?" Alex asked, albeit tiredly. He sat down next to Jasmine and the Keyhole, a smirk on his face "I can't go on I'm afraid, it looks like you guys are going to have to do it."

"Alright then Alex, we'll leave you here if that's what you want." Aladdin said, looking downwards into the underground. The Eds looked behind them to Alex, who merely smiled at them.

"Just go guys, if you get in trouble I'll come down to ya, okay?" Alex asked. The Eds nodded, as the group looked down the lava filled area.

"Geez, all the stinking treasure in the world ain't worth this..." Eddy muttered, as he stared down hard and gulped.

Xxx

"Well well, it looks like the rats want to play some more!" Jafar had exclaimed, but he was no longer human. No, he was something more: a gigantic, red coloured Genie. He was large, so large that the party merely looked puny in comparison.

"J-Jafar?" Aladdin asked, taking a slight step back. The giant red genie merely guffawed loudly at the urchin, confidence pouring from his very body.

"It looks like you've bitten off more than you can chew, street rat!" Jafar shouted, dipping his hand in the lava. Iago was flying over head of the heroes carrying a black lamp in between his talons, causing Double D to look up.

"Okay, i've got an idea..." Double D whispered, the group listening closely "Ed, Kevin, Eddy and Sora can distract Jafar while-"

"ARE YOU NUTS?" Eddy questioned furiously, pointing at Jafar "I AIN'T GETTING NEAR HIM!"

"Eddy, what I was saying was, I, Aladdin, Nazz, Donald, Jonny and Goofy will attack the lamp, while you lure him away from us." Double D suggested, glancing at Jafar, before staring at him closely "RUN AWAY!" The group turned, Jafar was holding a large fireball in his hand now. Eddy, Ed and Sora had to distract him...

"I like my street rats extra crispy!" Jafar roared, throwing the large ball of fire at the group. All of the party managed to dodge the ball of fire and the explosion, as pieces of the floor began to rise to Iago's position.

"Go Double D!" Ed ordered. The intelligent Ed nodded, as he and his group had departed to fight Iago. Ed, Eddy, Kevin and Sora had then stood against Jafar, their weapons brandished. Eddy and Kevin stood together as they got in their fighting style, preparing for another attack from Jafar.

"You ready, dorky?" Kevin asked, standing back to back with Eddy.

"Ready as you are, Kev." Eddy replied, glaring at Jafar. The red genie had merely laughed loudly, crossing his arms against his chest.

"Is this the best you've got? I'll squash you flat!" Jafar exclaimed, raising a fist in the air. Eddy and Kevin looked at each other, before looking at Jafar again. Jafar quickly brought his fist down against the two young warriors; however they both jumped out of the way of the attack, before resuming their positions "Die, street rats!" He dipped his hand in the lava again, the Eds, Sora and Kevin sighing again.

"How long's sock head gonna take?" Eddy asked, as Jafar held a massive fire ball in his hand "I can't take this forever!" Meanwhile, Double D and his group were having trouble with Iago, who darted and weaved through all of the magical attacks with aerial maneuvers.

"Come on you stupid bird, hold still!" Nazz shouted as she leaped high in the air, raised her sword high above her head one handed. She then swung at the big beaked bird with her sword, but the red bird evaded out of the way. The lamp was enveloped in a large magical bubble, protecting it from destruction.

"What do you think we should do Double D?" Goofy wondered, looking on as Jafar threw a large ball of magma at the two Eds, Sora and Kevin "We've gotta do something, quick!"

"I'm thinking..." Double D said, placing a palm on his chin.

"Well think harder sock head!" Eddy exclaimed, dodging another ball of magma "I can't do this forever ya know!" Double D nodded, punching his palm with his fist.

"I've got an idea!" Double D exclaimed, summoning his Keyblade.

"What? Another lightning barrage?" Nazz asked, staring at Iago "I don't think I've got enough energy left to do it."

"No Nazz, I've been thinking of something for a while now, a new spell..." Double D muttered, pointing his Keyblade at Iago "Gravity!" Suddenly, a large dome of darkness had surrounded Iago and pulled him to the floor, preventing him from getting up. Then, without a moment to spare, Double D ran towards the nefarious bird and poached the lamp from him

"AACK, Jafar's gonna kill me!" Iago exclaimed, as Double D held the lamp in the air. He then threw it in the air and hit in with a small blue beam of light, destroying the barrier. The lamp landed in his hands, holding it high above his head in Jafar's direction.

"A genie's weakness: its lack of freedom!" Double D announced, as he locked eyes with Jafar.

"WHAAT?" Jafar exclaimed furiously "IAGO YOU FOOL, YOU LET THEM GET THE LAMP?" Double D rubbed the lamp, as Jafar began to roar furiously.

"It's time to be kept in captivity, Jafar." Double D remarked coolly.

"NO, I WON'T BE DEFEATED!" Jafar roared defiantly, but he knew it, that deep down inside he was facing defeat. He glanced at Iago, who desperately tried to escape "I WON'T BE ALONE!" He tried to grab Iago, who merely flew out of range. Then, Jafar was sealed inside of the lamp, where he would do no harm for a very long time.

"Double D, ya did it dude!" Nazz congratulated, hugging Edd greatly. He was blushed, as he returned the hug.

"Hey, get a room!" The two released each other, before looking at Eddy and Kevin folding their arms.

"Yeesh, Double D gets a hug and I don't?" Eddy asked insultingly, "Besides, we gotta seal the Keyhole."

"Dorky has a point Double D; let's get our behinds up there quick!" Kevin ordered, assumingly trying to take Alex's place as 'leader'. The group nodded, as the magic carpet came to take them to the place above

Xxx

"Jasmine, Jasmine?" Aladdin wondered, searching around the chamber "Jasmine!" Sora, meanwhile, had summoned his Keyblade. As it was covered with light at the tip of the blade, he pointed at the revealed Keyhole, permanently locking the Keyhole. The Keyhole disappeared, instead covered with stone. Alex stood against the wall, arms folded.

"Alex, do you know where Jasmine went?" Aladdin asked, staring deeply at him. Alex merely stared back, emotionless.

"Not a clue." Alex replied, sighing. He then stood upright, stretching himself "I'm sorry Aladdin, I dozed off for a moment, and the next thing I know she's gone..."

"No, it's not your fault..." Aladdin muttered, sighing deeply. Suddenly, the entire cave began to rumble fiercely as the magic carpet came to the aid of the group.

"We've got to get out of here!" Goofy exclaimed worriedly, as the group hopped onto the magic carpet. The group escaped from the chamber, and instead were flying through the cave.

"Cool!" Ed shouted, raising both arms in the air. The rest of the group looked terrified, except for Jonny and Alex of course. Jonny was as excited as Ed, whilst Alex had almost zero enthusiasm whatsoever, like he had the energy sucked out of him.

"You're sure telling me Ed..." Eddy muttered worriedly, as the magic carpet dodged the falling boulders from the ceiling. The party soon approached a small doorway, which below it was filled with lava.

"Hold on!" Aladdin exclaimed, as the magic party went through. Suddenly they went through to a hallway filled with hallway and crumbling structures, which was when THEN Alex had suddenly snapped out of his state.

"What in the world-" Alex was soon interrupted as a jet of lava had appeared beside him "DO YOU KNOW HOW TO FLY THIS THING?"

"Hey, I'm doing the best I can!" Aladdin snapped back, dodging another piece of a crumbling pillar. They then passed through a hole in the wall which led to a similar hallway, and the party did this for three more times before passing through another hallway which led to another hallway "Are you happy now?" There were bits of rock falling, but nothing major as the group were closer to escaping.

"I am now!" Alex said in relief, sighing deeply. The group flew through the exit and out through the mouth of the cave of wonders, as they headed back to Agrabah.

Xxx

"So... Jasmine's no longer in Agrabah..." Aladdin muttered, sitting on the steps in his house. The then turned his head up to look at the party "Sora, let's find Jasmine together."

"I'm sorry Aladdin, I can't let you..." Sora replied sullenly, facing his head downwards.

"What? Why not?" Aladdin asked, more in desperation rather than anger.

"Because it would be meddling, Aladdin..." Goofy muttered, staring at Aladdin sadly "I wish we could..." Sora then looked up at Aladdin, with much more determination on his face.

"We'll look for her Aladdin, we promise!" Sora exclaimed, placing his arms around the necks of Alex and Kevin "And we'll do it with their help."

"You could have asked..." Alex muttered, smirking at Aladdin "Don't worry Aladdin, you can trust us." Aladdin perked up too, smiling greatly.

"Okay then, I'll hold it to you guys to get Jasmine safe okay?" Aladdin asked as the party nodded in response.

"Umm, Earth to Al, you have one more wish!" Genie interjected "You can just wish Jasmine to be here in Agrabah." The group looked at Aladdin in an anticipated manner, who merely sighed.

"Alright, Genie..." Aladdin trailed off, as Genie began to crack his fingers.

"You've got it Al." Genie said, ready to answer the wish.

"I wish to set you free!" Aladdin exclaimed as the entire party gasped, even Alex, our apathetic hero was in shock.

"Alrighty Al, wish number three coming... what?" Genie asked in surprise, as the shackles on his wrists disappeared, and a swirling vortex appeared below his 'tail' forming instead two legs to symbolise Genie's freedom "I'm... free..."

"A deals a deal Genie, you can go anywhere you want now. You're your own master." Aladdin said, smiling at him "But can you do me a favour Genie? Can you help these guys find Jasmine?" Genie, enjoying his freedom had stared harshly at Aladdin.

"Sorry Al, but I'm done taking orders." Genie replied sternly, turning away. Then, he turned around, a big smile on his face "But a favour, I can certainly do! I mean, we're pals right? Just leave it to me!" Aladdin just laughed and smiled as he ruffled his hair. The rest of the group chuckled, except for Alex, who stared out of the hole in the wall 'What am I fighting for?' Alex thought to himself, as he sighed deeply.

Xxx

"That smarmy vizier could have had 'em... if someone could have stuck around to give him a hand..." Hades remarked, gazing accusingly at Riku.

"Hey, I did my part right? I got the princess right?" Riku asked defensively.

"Yeah, if that Alex kid wasn't such a pushover..." Hades muttered, staring at the youngster "He can defeat my clients but hands her over to you? Blah!"

"Enough from you two." Maleficent called "You did well Riku, Jafar was far beyond help." She then turned to Hades "He was consumed by his own hatred, and one should be wary of letting it consume them a little too much." Hades backed away with his arms in the air, shaking his head at the same time.

"Whoa whoa, lighten up, I'm as cool as they come." Hades insisted, chuckling slightly "Anyway kiddo, we've got a special surprise for you."

"Huh?" Riku wondered, folding his arms.

"We had a deal, yes?" Maleficent asked "You help us and we grant your wish." An image of Kairi had appeared in the centre of the room, albeit she was in a comatose position.

"Kairi!" Riku exclaimed, reaching out to her, although he realized it was only an image.

"Go to her, your vessel is waiting." Maleficent ordered, as footsteps were heard. Suddenly, a tall man wearing a red cloak, brown trousers and white shin length socks with brown shoes stepped forward. He had a hook as a replacement for his left hand, and he wore a red had with a feather in it. He had a large moustache, and had long black hair.

"Remember that this isn't a pleasure cruise, it won't be a pleasant voyage!" He exclaimed, smirking at Riku.

"Why are you doing this all for me? What's the catch?" Riku questioned, frowning almost suspiciously.

"Catch? What's the catch?" Maleficent asked mockingly, turning to Riku and reaching towards his cheek with her hand "You're like a son to me, I only want you to be happy." However he turned his head sharply, escaping her touch.

"I very much doubt that." Riku muttered, still frowning.

"Believe what you want, but remember I kept my end of the bargain." Maleficent said, as Riku turned away from her.

"And what's HIS involvement?" Riku asked sharply. Maleficent chuckled, as if amused by his question.

"You mean Alex? Don't worry about him, he seeks what he wants to seek just like you. I see him as my son too. Now run along Riku, lest you be late." Maleficent replied wickedly, as Riku walked out of the ghastly room.

Xxx

"Take this with you." Aladdin said, handing Double D a keychain "It's to reward you with not only your intelligence, but your bravery." It was called the 'Three Wishes', and transformed Edd's Keyblade into an Arabian looking one.

"W-wow, thank you Aladdin..." Double D uttered, gazing at the Keyblade.

"Hey, wait!" Eddy exclaimed, crossing his arms "Why don't I get anything snazzy?" Ed came up from behind and squeezed Eddy in a bear hug, as he grinned from cheek to cheek.

"Aaw Eddy, you've got me!" Ed insisted, as Eddy cried loudly.

"That doesn't help lumpy!" Eddy exclaimed, as the party laughed loudly in amusement. After all, they were going to need it.

Xxx

"Hey, remember that Pinocchio kid?" Eddy asked, folding his arms as he sat in the gummi ship "What was his deal anyway?"

(flashback)

"Pinocchio? Is that you?" Jiminy cricket wondered, as he saw a little boy hiding underneath the table in the accessory shop. Although he looked a little different compared to the ordinary boy, instead he was made out of wood. And, what was next to the boy was what looked like some sort of special item "What are you doing Pinoch?"

"Umm... playin' hide and seek." Pinocchio replied, smiling widely.

"Oh, thank goodness Pinocchio, and here I was worrying about you and-" However Jiminy was soon interrupted as Pinocchio's nose grew longer by large proportions.

"Whoa, cool! I wish my nose could do that!" Ed exclaimed, smiling dumbly, although Jiminy wasn't all too impressed with the puppet boy.

"Pinocchio, are you lying to me mister?" Jiminy asked.

"If you see something you like, why wait, why not just take it?" Pinocchio asked.

"Yeah, if only all of us were like that!" Eddy exclaimed, although Alex slapped him in the back of the head "Hey, what was that for?"

"You can't go around telling him to steal, it's bad for his conscious." Alex reminded, crossing his arms "The only thing is though, where did he here that kind of 'philosophy' from?"

"He's right Pinocchio, you need your conscious set straight and I'm the only one for the job." Jiminy stated, crossing his arms too.

"You're right Jiminy, as long as you're my conscious I'll never lie or do bad stuff." Pinocchio said, as his nose grew back to normal "Say Jiminy, have you seen my papa?"

"I thought he was with you?" Jiminy asked confusedly "Well, don't do anything dangerous Pinocchio. I'm travelling with these fellows to other worlds; they will help me find Geppetto!"

"We will?" Sora asked, frowning slightly.

"You don't mind, do ya Sora?" Jiminy asked.

"You could have asked first..." Sora muttered gravely, meaning MORE work for the Keyblade master...

(End Flashback)

"I still say you should have asked you know!" Sora exclaimed, as Jiminy stared deeply at Sora.

"I'm sorry Sora, but It's what I've got to do." The cricket reasoned. Sora merely smiled at him, apparently forgiving him.

"Aaah, it's okay really." Sora said, pulling out the torn page that Alex gave to him "Hey guys, do you think this is the page from Merlin's Book?" Donald and Goofy looked at the torn page, before looking at each other.

"It sure looks like it, should we go back?" Goofy asked.

"Sure, I'm fine with that." Donald replied "Alex, are you fine with that?"

"Sure, I don't mind." Alex replied coolly "With that warp gummi, we should make it in no time." The group the turned on the warp drive, their next destination being Traverse Town...

(TBC...)


	11. Friends Forever?

Kingdom Eds: Rise of Darkness

Chapter 11: Friends Forever?

"Ah... Traverse Town." Sora sighed, folding his arms. The town was its usually self, a quiet little town with a few people still around town.

"So, what are we here for again?" Eddy asked impatiently, tapping his foot.

"We're here to return the page to Merlin." Goofy replied, turning to the short boy "Maybe we could split up, so we don't get too crowded."

"Good idea Goof." Sora said, smirking "How about Me, Donald, Goofy and Jonny?" He stared at the whole group, who merely looked at him.

"Sure, why not?" Alex asked, walking forward "Just don't take too long Sora, we've got worlds to save remember?" Sora nodded, pointing towards his group.

"Alrighty guys, let's go!" Sora commanded, as he and his group walked off to the door leading to the second district. Meanwhile, Alex, the Eds, Nazz and Kevin had merely stood at the centre of the town, bored.

"So, where to now?" Nazz asked, looking around "There isn't much to do here huh?"

"Maybe, but..." Alex muttered, staring at the accessory shop "Let's go in there, I've got an idea!" The party merely shrugged, following Alex through to the shop. It was the same old shop; however instead of Cid running the shop, they saw a familiar face.

"Huh?" Eddy wondered, pointing to the man "Didn't we see you..."

"Hey, isn't he the one who's heart was eaten by the heartless?" Nazz pondered, staring at the man.

"Me? No, I think you have someone else mixed up with me." He replied surely "Can I get you anything?"

"No thanks, but..." Alex muttered, looking upwards towards the ladder "Where does that place lead to?"

"So, you wanna know huh?" The group looked down, seeing a strange animal with a tail, and at the end of said tail had a pom-pom.

"What the, huh?" Kevin asked, pointing at the thing "What are you supposed to be?"

"I'm a moogle, silly!" The moogle replied "Do you want to know where that place leads, kupo?"

"Yes mister moogle!" Ed exclaimed.

"Well, its simple... it leads to the synthesis room!" The moogle revealed, pointing at the ladder "But it's too high I'm afraid..."

"Got any suggestions on how to get it down?" Alex asked, crossing his arms.

"Teamwork, that's usually the answer." The moogle replied simply, turning away from the group.

"I've got an idea..." Nazz muttered mischievously, rubbing her hands together slowly as she looked at the three Eds. Alex and Kevin saw what she was looking at, before realizing what she meant. The Eds saw too, gulping in fear. Meanwhile...

Xxx

"Hey Merlin!" Sora exclaimed, smiling widely "We've got a page for that book."

"Well done Sora, just take a little look at the book and put the page in." Sora nodded, walking towards the book on the table. Then, as he turned it, a bright flash of light blinded him.

"Ah! What the... what is this?" Sora wondered, noticing something a little different. He was actually on top of the book's pages in a sort of mini form, "Cool..." He saw a picture in the book with a large field with the log in the middle of it, before walking towards it. He was met with another flash of light, before being in the field now. He looked around, nothing but trees surrounding him and a log in the centre. He saw a small yellow bear who wore a red shirt thinking to himself, pondering something whilst its paw rest on its head. Sora raised an eyebrow, before slowly walking in range of the bear so that he was in hearing distance.

"Think Pooh... think..." Pooh chanted, thinking as hard as he can.

"Hey there." Sora greeted, waving at the bear. Pooh looked up, a large grin on his face.

"Oh hello, are you here to say bye too?" Pooh asked. Sora stepped back in a startled manner, before nervously laughing and rubbing his hear.

"Of course not, why would I do that?" Sora wondered worriedly, staring at Pooh with concern.

"Everyone from the 100 acre wood is gone; I and my friends were walking through the woods when I went looking for some honey..." He stopped slowly, a sad expression on his face. He then turned his head upwards to stare at the deep blue sky, "And I was wondering how I would say goodbye to myself..." Sora merely stared at the small, pudgy bear.

"Okay..." Sora muttered quietly, staring at Pooh. The yellow bear then got up, and looked as if a light bulb had lit up inside of his head.

"I know, I'll get some honey!" He exclaimed, running away from Sora as fast as his little stumpy legs could carry him. Sora reached out, a surprised facial expression on his face.

"Hey, wait!" Sora shouted, before being hit with another flash of light. He opened his eyes slowly, before staring incredulously in front of him "Wow, talk about having being literal..." He saw a large tree, but what was strange was that at the front of the tree was a door that was Sora's size, a true tree house. He opened the door slowly, glancing inside the house. He looked around and saw the usual: A sink, wardrobe and a cuckoo clock. It was basically anything and everything that you would see in normal houses. He sighed, a frown on his face, before walking out of the door again. He saw an owl on top of a tree branch, smiling at him.

"Would you like to know more of the story?" The owl asked, Sora merely nodding dumbly "I must ask, do you have any torn pages?" Sora nodded, pulling out a torn page.

"Is this it?" Sora wondered, holding it in the air.

"It certainly is young man! Remember, you'll need more of these to advance the story of this book." The owl reminded, as yet another flash of light had occurred. Opening his eyes slowly, Sora saw that he was in a different place this time. A larger tree was seen this time, full of large holes and beehives that had hung on the branches.

"Pooh!" A meek little voice called out from inside a hollow log. A little piglet wearing a pink shirt with black stripes scurried across the floor, scanning his surroundings "Where are you Pooh? It's me, Piglet!" Sora had sneaked behind him before crouching lower to his level.

"Hi." Sora greeted, the little piglet turning around sharply to see the large figure of Sora.

"Wh-who are you?" Piglet asked worriedly, his body shaking wildly "I'm sorry, please don't hurt me!" Sora just smiled, trying to seem friendly.

"Don't worry, I won't hurt you. You're looking for Pooh huh?" Sora wondered, a smirk on his face.

"Huh, you know Pooh?" Piglet asked, as Sora nodded. He then sighed in relieve, as he once again looked around the area. Right on time, the lovable Pooh came walking through with a big smile on his face.

"Oh Piglet, Piglet!" Pooh called, searching for his timid friend.

"Pooh?" Piglet wondered, running quickly to his friend "Pooh! I found you!"

"Why, hello Piglet." Pooh greeted, still sticking with his bright smile.

"Hey Pooh, I found this for you..." Piglet said, pulling out a balloon. He passed it to the little yellow bear, who giggled with glee.

"Oh thanks Piglet, now we can get that honey!" Pooh exclaimed as an owl flew towards a branch, landing deftly on it "Oh, hello owl."

"Why hello Pooh bear, what are you doing today?" Owl wondered, glancing at balloon he was holding "Ah, you're using a balloon to catch some honey, good idea Pooh? Are you going to help him Sora?"

"Sure thing!" Sora replied, beating his chest proudly.

"Splendid, now before we begin..." The owl muttered, meanwhile, in another part of Traverse Town...

Xxx

"Cool..." Ed muttered excitedly, staring into the synthesis machine. Double D stood next to him, analysing the entire room carefully. Kevin stood with Nazz as she patted one of the moogles on the head softly, whilst Alex and Eddy were having a conversation.

"You know Eddy..." Alex stopped, before clearing his throat "Do you think we'll ever get to go home?" Eddy raised his eyebrow in a confused manner, before shrugging.

"Beats me." Eddy replied sullenly.

"I miss the Cul-de-sac..." Alex muttered, sighing deeply.

"Ah don't worry!" The two turned to Ed, who had a big dumb grin on his face "We'll get back, I have my lucky cheese: Sheldon!" everyone in the room covered their noses, especially Double D, who began to blush.

"Ed, I demand you get rid of that cheese!" Double D ordered, "It's detrimental to my physical AND mental health!"

"Take off your hat!" Ed retorted, frowning at smart Ed. Alex and Eddy merely sighed in frustration.

"Will you guys just shut up about that stinkin' cheese?" Eddy exclaimed furiously "It's givin' me a headache." Alex and Kevin laughed loudly, before Alex stood upright again.

"Alright guys, I think we've seen enough in this place." Alex mused.

"Onward to our journey!" Ed shouted, running through the door of the synthesis shop. The group laughed at the dim-witted boy, following him through to the second district.

Xxx

"Thank you Sora!" Pooh thanked gratefully, rubbing his tummy gently "I'm full."

"It's nothing Pooh." Sora said, smiling widely "Just take care okay?"

"Hey Sora, are ya coming?" Goofy asked from above. Sora just nodded, as a bright flash of light blinded him for a moment. The flash receded, and he returned to Merlin's little house; however he was met with strange stares.

"Umm, what's that Sora?" Jonny asked curiously, staring at the spiky headed hero.

"Huh?" Sora asked, looking down on himself "What? Is it a bug?"

"In your hand Sora." Goofy pointed "What is it?" Sora stared at his hand; he noticed a strange stone, a similar stone to the one that Leon gave to him.

"Oh... hey Merlin what's this stone?" Sora wondered, holding it in the air. Merlin walked up to the youngster, examining the stone closely.

"Why, it appears to be a summon gem! Fairy Godmother, look!" Merlin called, as the pumpkin carriage into an elderly lady wearing purple robes and holding a wand.

"You called?" She asked, staring at them "Is that a summon gem?" She quickly scurried towards Sora, before examining it.

"I've got another just like it." Sora said, pulling out Squall's lucky stone. She took a hold of both of the summon gems.

"These aren't just lucky stones, these are the very essence of life." She stated, gazing sadly at them "The poor dears..."

"Whoa, can you bring them bag?" Jonny asked.

"Oh yeah, but only their recurring spirit..." She replied sorrowfully "If you find any more stones, may you bring them back?" She then tapped the two stones with her wand, as they disappeared into a large flash of light.

"Huh, where did they go?" Goofy wondered, searching around the house.

"They rest in Sora's heart, in hopes that they may come to him when he needs them." She replied, a smile creeping on her face "Go now Sora, find them."

"I will, I promise!" Sora exclaimed, pumping his fist in the air "Come on guys, let's go!" and with that, the quartet left Merlin's house...

Xxx

"Okay guys, where to?" Alex asked over the intercom.

"I suggest warping near Agrabah and then making our path through there." Donald replied.

"Roger." Alex said, as the two gummi ships entered warp drive. They appeared near Agrabah in a few seconds, before deciding where to go next.

"Hey Donald, let me drive today." Sora chimed over the radio "I am the Keyblade Master after all."

"What? What about me?" Eddy questioned furiously.

"Stick a pipe in it dorky!" Kevin shouted over the radio.

"Be quiet!" Donald commanded "I'll drive, now follow me!" The gummi ship then travelled through inter-space, moving at a relatively slow speed. In Alex's gummi ship, Jonny and Kevin were having a conversation between each other.

"Hey Kevin, how comes you're so good with that spear?" Jonny wondered, putting his ear against Plank's 'mouth' "What's that buddy? Kevin's a dragoon?" Kevin just stared at Jonny with an incredulous expression, before deciding to answer.

"All I do is swing a spear around, anyone can do that." Kevin replied, smirking with arrogance.

"But where did 'Jump!' come from?" Alex asked from the seat, turning to the two "I've never seen anything like that before..."

"Hmm... I don't know where that came from actually. It was kinda like instinct, ya know?" Kevin mused "I guess it's just the funky spear, huh?"

"Yeah, that explains it." Alex said, smirking.

"Hey Alex, how does your sword work then?" Kevin wondered.

"What, my weapon? Oh it's simple, it gets stronger with the more darkness in my heart, why?" Alex asked.

"Isn't that a bit dangerous though, having so much darkness in your heart?" Kevin pondered "Doesn't it make you vulnerable?" Alex didn't answer; he merely shrugged and turned his seat around. Meanwhile, in Donald and Goofy's gummi ship...

"You know, this could get boring after a while." Eddy remarked.

"What do you mean, we get to explore other worlds and broaden our horizons Eddy, being bored is simply not an option." Double D replied surely.

"What I'm saying is that... all that we really do is go around worlds and lock Keyholes." Eddy said "Why can't we do anything fun for a change?"

"Being a hero isn't easy Eddy, sometimes you've got to do what's right for everyone, and not just yourself." Sora lectured, smiling widely "We have to make sure that evil doesn't triumph over good."

"Wow Sora, that's cool what you said." Nazz said, smiling "You'd make a great hero, that's for sure." A big grin formed on Sora's face, as he filled with confidence.

"Thanks Nazz." Sora beamed gratefully.

"Whoa!" Ed exclaimed "Look at that big fish!" The entire group looked out of the window to see a gargantuan whale that was almost the size of a whole world.

"That isn't a fish, that's a gigantic whale!" Double D screamed.

"It's Monstro!" Jiminy stated "We're in trouble, his meanness is as big as his size!"

"Donald, am I seeing things, or is that really a giant whale?" Alex asked over the intercom.

"Yep, it's a giant whale." Donald replied.

"Yeah, I thought so..." Alex muttered, before chuckling "Well, if there's ever a way to go, it sure beats being a heartless huh?" Monstro then began to 'swim' towards the two gummi ships, stretching its mouth out wide.

"Donald, do something!" Sora shouted desperately, as the gigantic beast edged closer. It was then in eating distance, as the entire party began to scream in fear.

"AAH! IT'S TOO LATE!" Donald exclaimed fearfully, as the whale consumed the gummi's inside of its mouth...

Xxx

"Are you okay?" A small little boy wearing a black shirt, blue shorts and black shoes was about the age of 3 years old, with black medium length that reached just above his neck. He stared down on another young boy about the same age, who wore a black sock over his head, wore an orange shirt and purple shorts, as well as small white and black striped shoes "I thought you was gonna suffocate!"

"I'm fine thank you." The little sock headed boy said, standing firmly upright "Thank you for getting me out."

"Ah, it's nothin'!" The boy in black replied "Anythin' to help right?" The two children laughed, as they stared up into the bright blue sky.

"Wow... it's a wonderful day today..." The sock hat boy replied, before looking at the other boy "What's your name?"

"The name's Alex!" He replied cheerfully "What's yours?"

"Alex huh? Well my name's Double D, short for Eddward!" Edd announced, as Alex laughed at him "What's so funny?"

"Tehe, you're smart for someone in diapers!" Alex remarked, folding his arms "You're smarter than that stink head Eddy, that's for sure!"

"Hey!" The two turned around to see a little boy around their age, who was much smaller than them. He wore diapers that looked a little too big on him, as three hair protruded from his head "I heard that, you jerk!"

"Oh, hello Eddy." Double D greeted. Alex glanced at Double D at a moment, raising an eyebrow.

"You know him?" Alex asked curiously.

"Yeah, he introduced me to Ed; you know... the one who you pulled me out of?" Double D said, as Alex took a moment to think. Realizing what he said, like a light bulb lit up in his head.

"Oh... cool!" Alex exclaimed excitedly "And I guess you know Ed huh?" Double D nodded, as the black haired little boy began to giggle with glee "Ooh, this is so cool! We can be best buddies forever!"

"Yeah!" Another boy exclaimed, approaching the three youngsters. He was the same age too, although he was much bigger than the all. He had dirty yellow skin and wore only his diapers and his shoes, with one little hair appearing on his head "And we can all read comics at my place." Alex then frowned at this, the little energetic boy for the first time showing signs of unhappiness.

"No way Ed!" Alex disagreed, shoving his finger into his belly "I ain't just gonna sit around when I'm older! I wanna explore the world!"

"Wow, pretty ambitious isn't it Alex?" Double D wondered, curiously gazing at Alex "What made you think like that?" Alex put a finger on his chin, as Eddy grinned from side to side.

"Don't listen to him, I'M the boss around here! After all, I was here first!" Eddy exclaimed "And I say we scam the kids off of all their money!"

"Shut it you!" Alex ordered, showing his mean streak as he shoved his face into Eddy's "We aren't doing stupid scams that don't work, we're gonna have an adventure! It's always been my dream..." He gazed at the sky with a dreamy look in his eyes, sighing peacefully.

"Well, can't we just do both fellows?" Double D asked, as both Alex and Eddy stared at him with excitement.

"Double D, you're a genius!" The two boys exclaimed, hugging the smart Edd "Why didn't we think of that?" The two boys looked at each other with sadness in their eyes, feeling sorry for each other.

"I'm sorry Eddy, will ya forgive me?" Alex asked, putting a hand out.

"Sure thing pal, were in this together!" Eddy exclaimed, putting his hand over Alex's "Come one Ed and Double D, put your hands on top!" The two Eds had put their hands on top, before throwing them up into the air.

"All for one, and one for all!" All of the boys exclaimed, as the memory suddenly ended with a flash of light...

(TBC...)


	12. A heart for a heart

Kingdom Eds: Rise of Darkness

Chapter 12: A heart for a heart

"Riku?" Alex asked, standing up firmly. He stood beside Jasmine, who was laid out on the floor "What are you doing here?"

"I'm here for her." Riku answered curtly, pointing at the unconscious Princess of Heart "And I've got something to tell you."

"Huh? What do you mean?" Alex pondered, staring into Riku's eyes.

"I was sent not only to bring the Princess back to Maleficent, but to tell you something important." Riku said, stepping forward "Your friends that you're looking for..." He then stared at Alex, who stood with anticipation.

"What is it Riku?" Alex asked, boring his eyes into the young silver haired youth "Can I still find them?" Riku continued to stare, before sighing deeply.

"Your friends are gone, forever..." Riku replied. Alex stepped back in shock, before slumping to the floor in a rugged manner.

"N-no..." Alex muttered, staring at the ground "What am I... going to do?" Riku merely looked on, taking Jasmine and putting her over his shoulder. Alex looked up, scowling at the boy "What, you're just gonna leave me here like an idiot?"

"Sorry, but orders are orders." Riku remarked, as he walked through a corridor of darkness. Alex stared at the ground again, sighing deeply.

"I failed... but don't worry, I'll make up for it..." Alex muttered "I promise..." Alex's flashback ended, now standing up straight as he stared upwards. He was notably inside of the mouth of the mighty Monstro, consumed in his thoughts. The Eds and Nazz were huddled together unconsciously, whilst Sora slept on his own. Donald, Goofy and Jonny were awake, whilst Kevin was knocked out on his own too.

"Hey Alex, do you think we should wake 'em up now?" Jonny asked, walking up to him "They've been sleeping for a good while now." Alex shook his head, glancing at Jonny.

"We could but..." Alex muttered, smirking as he pointed at Ed "I don't think we need to." Jonny looked at the large Ed to notice he was now wide awake, a big smile on his face.

"Hiya guys!" Ed shouted brashly, waking up the others around him. Eddy, in particular was in a foul mood.

"Hey, I'm next to ya know lumpy!" Eddy moaned, shaking his fist at his friend. Meanwhile, Sora slowly shifted from the ground, getting up a little slowly. When he was finally on his feet, he rubbed his head and whilst looking around, saw Donald folding his arms whilst tapping his feet impatiently and Goofy holding his shield above his head.

"What's going on?" Sora asked as he moved towards the duo, with Donald waving his fist in the air.

"We're expecting showers." Goofy answered, as a large treasure box fell on him "Oof! Heavy showers."

"Knock it off!" Donald ordered, as another large treasure went flying in Sora's direction.

"Whoa!" Sora exclaimed worriedly, leaping backwards to avoid the flying treasure. Kevin woke up as well, albeit a little bit quicker than Sora. He scanned the area, before looking upwards.

"Hey, who's that?" Kevin asked, as the group came towards him.

"Hey, isn't that Pinocchio?" Double D asked, folding his arms. Jiminy crept onto Sora's pocket, a worried expression on his face.

"Pinocchio, what are you doing? Pinocch!" Jiminy called, looking at Sora "We've got to get to him Sora!" Pinocchio walked and jumped across different platforms towards a wrecked little ship, holding some treasure in his arms. The group looked at it, as Alex stepped forward.

"Alright, let's go." Alex commanded, pointing his arm at the boat.

Xxx

"Gepetto, is that you?" Jiminy asked, his eyes growing to the size of dinner plates. An elderly man wearing glasses smiled kindly, his eyes closed.

"Ah, Jiminy my old friend, it's nice to see you again." Gepetto greeted.

"How did you get here?" Sora asked.

"Yeah, how?" Jiminy wondered.

"Oh, well that big old whale Monstro swallowed me and my boat whole." The old inventor replied. Pinocchio almost stared vacantly, mesmerised as he slowly stepped forward out of the vision of the others "I hope that my Pinocchio's been a good boy."

"Yeah, he's been good." Sora answered "In fact... hey!"

"What is it Sora?" Alex asked, folding his arms. Sora pointed to the spot that Pinocchio was before gulping.

"Wasn't that where Pinocchio was standing?" Sora questioned as he turned his head, finding Pinocchio wander through a passageway "There he went!"

"Oh dear, do make sure you bring back Pinocchio, he's my only child, and he's such a kind boy." Gepetto pleaded.

"Don't worry, we'll bring him back." Jiminy swore, pointing in the direction "Let's go!" The group followed Sora towards the passage way before stopping in front of it.

"Hmm..." Alex mumbled quietly.

"What?" Eddy asked, staring at his companion "What's up?"

"I don't think all of us should follow after Pinocchio." Alex suggested, as Jiminy glared at the youngster.

"What do you mean?" Sora wondered, "The more the merrier, right?"

"Maybe, but we have to make sure that Gepetto is alright." Alex explained "We've got to make sure he doesn't fall to the heartless, or even worse that hooded guy."

"Alex is right, some of us have got to stay." Double D agreed "However, who will go and retrieve Pinocchio?" Alex folded his arms, pausing in thought.

"I'll go!" Sora volunteered.

"Us too!" Donald and Goofy exclaimed, grabbing their arms on both of Sora's shoulders.

"Anyone else?" Alex asked, as he stared out towards the Eds, Nazz, Kevin and Jonny. He sighed, before standing straight "Alright, I'll go too." The Eds looked at each other, before looking at Alex before nodding.

"We'll join you as well, pal." Eddy said, as Ed and Double D stood behind him. Alex smirked, as he stared at Nazz, Kevin and Jonny. The three merely nodded, knowing what they were supposed to do, with Alex also responding with a nod.

"Come on then, let's go!" Alex ordered, stepping though the passage towards finding the puppet. They were inside a new, slightly small area with a higher platform with one 'doorway' and another pathway opposite them.

"Come on Pinocchio, now's not the time for games!" Sora shouted forcefully, as he and the rest of the search party tried to find Pinocchio.

"But Sora, I thought you liked games?" A familiar voice called out.

"Huh?" Sora wondered "Riku?" the boy soon stepped out, with Pinocchio shortly behind him.

"Or are you busy to play games with that Keyblade of yours?" Riku taunted, smirking. Alex looked on vacantly, the memory of Agrabah still lingering in his mind. Sora stepped forward, a small frown on his face.

"Come on, Riku!" Sora exclaimed, as the silver haired boy grabbed Pinocchio by the hand and ran though another pathway.

"So that's Riku." Eddy realized, smiling nervously "I see what you meant when you said he was strong, heh..."

"Nah, he's a good friend, my best friend." Sora answered, with Double D raising his head slightly.

"He seems to be acting strangely, for a friend." Double D mused, as Sora stared into the ground.

"Yeah, you're right..." Sora muttered. The group then followed where Riku went, in the hopes of finding the key to escaping the jaws of Monstro...

Xxx

It was the usual in Traverse Town, the sky covered in darkness and the burning light of the stars. The first district, whilst empty, was filled with an eerie chill. Yet there were two figures standing far apart, one wearing the same hooded cloak as the one who encounter Sora and his friends, and another being a blond haired boy with emerald green eyes. The blonde wore a light blue jacket and a white shirt, as well as blue jeans and brown leather boots and gloves. He held a peculiar weapon in his hand, a blue tinted weapon called Insanity, a Chinese sword-breaker. He encompassed a stern, serious stare as he focused upon the mysterious enigma, gripping his sword tightly.

"Who are you, where am I?" The blond asked impatiently "Why am I..."

"Don't worry about that." The enigma soothingly ensured. The blond suddenly ran towards the hooded figure, raising his blade high in the air.

"Tell me!" The boy shouted angrily, slamming his sword down. The enigma, however had evaded the attack with calm, casual deftness as he shifted his body slightly to the right before slapping the boy so hard that he was sent flying into a few tables and chairs.

"Don't we have a temper?" The hooded man mockingly quipped; as he stood folding his arms "All bark and no bite! Typical." He turned his on the boy, whilst chuckling to himself. The young boy stood up then, an aura of darkness beginning to surround him. He began to breathe heavily, pointing his sword towards the enigma.

"Shut up!" The blond roared in anger "I'll show you!" The mysterious figure turned, as smirk creeping up on his face 'Interesting... I could use him...' the enigma thought, summoning his sword.

"Alright, show me what you've got." The suspicious man urged, holding his sword in front of him. The blond boy gripped his sword with both hands, dashing towards his enemy with enhanced speed from the darkness. Reaching the enigma, he swung his sword to the right, before crashing down with power. The man simply blocked the swings with one arm, seemingly yawning. The blond then committed to a spinning strike, with which the figure responded with a simple back step. The aura around the blond soon dissipated, as he stood with shoulders slumped as he breathed heavily still.

"How... did you..." The blond asked weakly "I can't even hit you." The boy ran towards the hooded man with his sword raised, the latter dismissing his sword. He then smirked as the blond came nearer.

"Goodnight, kiddo." He said, as he threw a ball of darkness at the boy's chest, sending him to the floor. The blond boy was struggling the keep his head up, his eyes slowly closing as he was beginning to lose consciousness.

"You're gonna... gonna, ugh..." The emerald eyed boy muttered, fatigue finally settling in as he slumped on the floor. The enigma walked towards him, folding his arms before nodding, as he lifted the boy up in his arms and opened up a corridor of darkness.

"Hmm... this could be interesting..." The Hooded man muttered, as he walked through the portal to his unknown destination...

Xxx

"I see you met your friend, Riku." Maleficent noted, appearing from a Corridor of Darkness. Riku turned around with a stoic expression on his face as he shrugged his shoulders "Why do you care about that boy, he only cares about that keyblade and his new friends."

"I don't care; I was just messing around a while with him. It's nothing." Riku answered bluntly.

"Be wary of the darkness in your heart Riku, it his prey for the heartless." Maleficent mocked, before disappearing.

"Shut up!" Riku growled, as footsteps were heard rushing towards his direction. Pinocchio ran through to another chamber, with Sora and the gang running shortly behind him before stopping to encounter Riku.

"Riku, what are you doing here?" Sora asked sincerely, receiving merely a scowl from the silver haired boy.

"What do you care? All you're interested about these days is showing off that keyblade of yours to your new friends." Riku said bitterly "Do you even want to save Kairi?"

"I do!" Sora exclaimed, raising his fist in the air.

"AAAH!" Pinocchio screamed from the bowels.

"We've gotta do something!" Ed exclaimed valiantly, running towards the aid of the puppet.

"Ed, wait!" Double D urged, following him along with Eddy. Donald and Goofy ran through, leaving Alex, Sora and Riku alone. Alex simply walked through, with Riku following and Sora behind him.

"Ugh!" Riku gasped, as he saw what the cause was: a gigantic heartless, its stomach like a cage as it trapped the young Pinocchio inside.

"Help!" The puppet pleaded, as Riku summoned his weapon. He looked at Sora, who stood ready in an offensive stance.

"You up for this?" Riku asked coolly.

"Yeah!" Sora replied excitedly, nodding fervently.

"I will destroy you, disgusting belly monster!" Ed exclaimed, leaping high into the air to strike the monster's head with his keyblade. The heartless, however had clasped both of its hands together before slamming Ed across the ribs and into a wall, stunning him slightly.

"Ed!" Eddy shouted worriedly.

"I'm okay Eddy!" Ed assured, smiling dumbly. Eddy and Alex ran towards the heartless with their weapons raised high, looking at each other.

"Ready?" Alex asked.

"You betcha!" Eddy answered, as the two leapt in the air and slammed their swords into the face of the 'cage-like' heartless, sending it back a little.

"Help me, please somebody help!" Pinocchio begged as the two landed on their feet. Double D sent a Fira spell into the monster's face, as Riku jumped in the air with his arm raised, before slamming down with his sword on the head of the heartless, damaging it slightly. Goofy had thrown his shield at its face, whilst Donald summoned Thunder above the heartless, shocking it somewhat. The newly recovered Ed ran at the heartless, slamming into it with his keyblade, before Sora jumped in the air and sliced at the head of the heartless, causing it to jump back slightly.

"Help!" Pinocchio screamed, as the heartless jumped up in the air. It then released Pinocchio, who fell down a newly created hole from the fight, before jumping down itself. Riku followed after them, leaving the party behind. Meanwhile in the mouth of Monstro the water level had lowered considerably, making it slightly easier to possibly travel across platforms.

"Where do you think it goes?" Goofy asked, looking down directly over the hole. Donald kicked his behind, sending him hurtling downwards "YAAAAHOOOHOOOHOOIIEEE!" The entire party snickered softly, before following Goofy down the hole...

Xxx

"Pinocchio! Pinocchio! Please, give me back my son..." Geppetto begged. Riku held him in his arms, smiling softly.

"Sorry old man, but I have unfinished business with this puppet." Riku replied curtly.

"He's not a puppet, he's my little boy!" Geppetto exclaimed desperately, reaching his arm out in a futile attempt.

"He is unusual, not many puppets have hearts." Riku agreed, gazing deeply downwards towards the party "I'm not sure, but maybe he can help someone who's lost theirs."

"Wait a minute, do you mean Kairi?" Sora wondered, before Riku scowled at him.

"What do you care?" Riku sniped, before walking off with Pinocchio. Geppetto sat on the floor, his head down in a sullen mood.

"Guys, we need to get Pinocchio..." Sora urged "We cannot let Riku have his way; he's my friend but..."

"We understand." Nazz said "Me, Kev and Jonny will stay behind, you guys can go get him."

"Right!" Sora said, nodding as he turned back to get Pinocchio.

"Wait Sora!" Nazz exclaimed, as the spiky headed boy turned to face her. She placed a certain item in his hand "This is a shared ability from Geppetto called High Jump. He said that it might help."

"Thanks Nazz." Sora said gratefully, smiling. The rest of the party then jumped from the front of the ship and across a wooden platform, before jumping onto a large wooden plank. They ran across the plank, before jumping towards the platform leading towards the throat and walking through it.

"You know what Nazz?" Kevin mused, as he saw Goofy as the last one to walk through towards Monstro's throat.

"Yeah Kev?" Nazz asked.

"How can a pup- err I mean Pinocchio have a heart?" Kevin wondered, folding his arms.

"Maybe he has a soul." Jonny suggested.

"Oh yeah, and how do you figure that Jonny?" Kevin questioned. Jonny placed Plank to his ear, before nodding and grunting in affirmation.

"Plank says, because every living thing has a soul, even a puppet." Jonny answered, smiling. Kevin smiled serenely, before shrugging.

"Wow, never thought of it that way..." Kevin muttered "I wonder if we'll ever find Rolf..."

"And don't forget Jimmy and Sarah dude." Nazz reminded, "Wait a minute, Alex said something about being lost in darkness..."

"Wait, you don't think they're..." Kevin muttered "Rolfy..."

"No, don't think like that Kevin!" Nazz said sternly "Never think negative, you've gotta think positive, after all we do have save the world."

"Plank says don't bet on it!" Jonny interrupted, causing the two to turn their heads towards him.

"Shut up Jonny!" They both shouted, causing the boy grumble. Back to Sora and the gang, and their endeavour to bring back Pinocchio...

Xxx

"Hey, let Pinocchio go Riku!" Sora shouted forcefully. The rest of the party followed behind him, their weapons in hand. They were in a room surrounded by many pulsating platforms with bones in them. In the centre of the stomach was a large ring of yellow acid, surrounding a circle of flesh which linked up to a single straight strip.

"A puppet that's lost its heart to darkness... maybe it holds to key to helping Kairi." Riku muttered sombrely. He turned to Sora, holding his arm out towards him "How about it Sora? How about we join forces to save her, we can do it together!" Sora stepped back, getting into a fighting stance "What, you'd rather fight me? Over a puppet that has no heart?"

"Heart or not heart, at least he still has a conscience." Sora remarked, causing Riku to step back painfully.

"Conscience?" Riku repeated, frowning.

"You might not hear, but right now it's loud and clear..." Sora trailed off, before saying "And it's telling me that you're on the wrong side!"

"Then you leave me no choice." Riku said ominously.

"Pinocchio! Pinocchio!" Jiminy cried worriedly, as Pinocchio raised his head weakly.

"Jiminy, I don't think I'm going to make it..." He muttered, yet strangely enough his nose grew bigger, causing Jiminy to light up in excitement "Well what do you know, I guess I'm okay." Suddenly the large heartless from before had jumped down from the ceiling in front of Riku, surprising him. The silver haired boy simply opened up a Corridor of Darkness and walked through it, leaving his friend behind.

"Sora, we'll take Pinocchio back!" Alex shouted, taking him by the arm "You, Donald and Goofy take care of this heartless!" Alex, the Eds and Jiminy ran away, leaving Sora, Donald and Goofy to fend for themselves.

"Alright guys, we can do this!" Sora exclaimed confidently.

"Let's go get him Goofy!" Donald roared while pointing his staff at the cage-like heartless "Thunder!" bolts of thunder had struck the beast, not affecting it in the slightest. Goofy threw his shield at it, bouncing off of its head whilst doing no notable damage. Sora dashed towards the monstrous foe as quick as he could, jumping high into the air with both hands clutched firmly onto his weapon. He raised the keyblade high, before crashing down with a lot of force behind him, stunning the heartless slightly before running back to his friends.

"Did that do it?" Sora wondered, as the heartless merely stood still. Suddenly, it opened its mouth as a sizeable amount of green liquid propelled outwards towards the party. The trio jumped out of the way onto the platforms, dodging the attack.

"Did it just... vomit?" Donald asked while shivering "That's just creepy."

"Come on, don't give up!" Goofy urged, as he rapidly span in the air with his arms outstretched and shield in hand. He flew like a helicopter towards the heartless, which simply clasped both arms together and smashed Goofy into a wall.

"Goof!" Sora exclaimed worriedly, as Goofy sat down on the floor unconscious "Donald, is he okay?"

"Don't worry Sora, I'll get him!" Donald shouted, running towards his friend "Goofy? Goofy!"

"Donald, look out!" Sora warned, as the heartless smashed Donald into the other side of the arena and knocked him out cold "No!" Sora jumped down to meet the heartless alone, getting into his stance. He ran at the heartless and jumped in the air with his weapon raised, the monster swinging wildly in an attempt to hit Sora. The spiky haired boy parried the swings, before using the momentum to smack the heartless in the face with his keyblade and send it stumbling back a bit "Yeah, you like that?" Sora stepped back a little, but the heartless had one more trick up its sleeve. It propelled itself towards him with its mouth agape, as it attempted to bite him. Sora held is keyblade in front of him in an attempt to block, firmly closing his eyes as he awaited his fate.

"Sora!" Goofy cried loudly, jumping in front of Sora with his shield outstretched as he blocked the attack. The heartless stumbled back a little, as a fire ball hit the cage-like monster in the face, stunning it. Donald jumped down next his companion as he held his staff high in the air.

"Goofy, Donald! You're okay!" Sora shouted joyfully.

"Of course, you think a guy like this can take care of us that easily?" Donald asked, smirking "Let's do this together."

"Right!" Sora said, nodding. He ran towards the heartless and leapt high into the air, raising his keyblade high in the air before crashing it downwards onto the monstrosity's head, causing it to stumble. Goofy quickly through his shield at it, the impact against its face causing it to almost lose its footing and to finish it off, Donald sent a barrage of ice projectiles towards the belly of the beast and sends it flying backwards. The beast, finally defeated had flew around in the air like a popped balloon as it relinquished a heart, the stomach of Monstro rumbling violently as the heartless disappeared into the darkness.

"Let's get out of here!" Goofy exclaimed, running out of the chamber along with Donald.

"Riku, where are you? Riku!" Sora shouted, searching around in vain for his friend...

Xxx

"So, Kairi's like a lifeless puppet now?" Riku asked anxiously, standing over his sleeping friend. He was aboard a creaking boat, with Maleficent standing broadly behind him.

"Precisely." She answered.

"And her heart was..." Riku muttered gravely, failing to finish off the sentence.

"Taken by the heartless no doubt." Maleficent said calmly.

"Tell me, what can I do?" Riku questioned urgently.

"There are seven maidens of the purest heart. We call the princesses of heart," Maleficent answered, raising her arms in the air "Gather them together, and a door will open to the heart of all worlds. Within lies untold wisdom. There you will surely find a way to recover Kairi's heart." She placed her hands over Riku's shoulders, as a cold smirk crept across her face "Now I'll grant you a marvellous gift: the power to control the Heartless!" Riku then was enveloped by a green aura, as he turned towards Kairi.

"Soon, Kairi. Soon." Riku muttered hopefully as smiled sadly at her...

(TBC)


	13. Rogue

Kingdom Eds: Rise of Darkness

Chapter 13: Rogue

(A/N: Sorry for the long wait... I sorta had writer's block and was busy with some stuff. There isn't too much action in this chapter. But all things aside, I hope you like the update)

"What did Riku mean... my friends lost forever?" Alex questioned, his Gummi Ship travelling towards his main destination at top speed, Maleficent's headquarters and main base of operations: 'Hollow Bastion'. His vessel had traversed inter-space for several hours, although he managed to cut a few corners by using the warp drive function implemented by Cid. He had finally reached the stronghold, and within minutes had approached the witch and her devilish consortium.

"Ah, Alex... how's it going kiddo?" Greeted Hades, rather laxly considering his disposition. Alex had ignored him, instead focusing his attention towards Maleficent herself.

"Maleficent, is it true!?" Alex interrogated, his fists clenched in fury "Will I never get to see my friends again!?" Maleficent didn't even register Alex's questions for a moment, in fact she seemed rather non-plussed. "I'm asking you a question!" She turned to him, and with a little smile said,

"No, of course not."

"What!?" Alex exclaimed confusedly. He furrowed his eyebrows as he tried to make sense of the situation "But Riku said-"

"I know what Riku said. And as he said himself, he was only following orders, which of course was to give you disinformation on the whereabouts of your friends." Maleficent answered bluntly. Alex stepped forward ever so slightly, becoming even more befuddled than before. Had Riku lied to him? Why? And for what purpose?

"Why Maleficent... why would you lie to me?" Alex asked, his face becoming twisted and contorted with each emotion that filled him up "Are my friends still safe?"

"To answer your second question, not only are your friends safe... they're right here with me." Maleficent replied sharply. Suddenly Rolf, Jimmy and Sarah were brought into the room by Captain Hook, followed none other by the Kanker Sisters. "And as for your first question... I needed to you to come to me."

"Wait, what?" Alex mumbled, "What are those three doing here? And why did you need me here?"

"These three, the 'Kankers'... shortly arrived after you had Alex. I just hid them away from you until the time was right. While you were gathering intelligence on your 'friends', I had sent these three... 'ladies' to do some dirty work for me." Maleficent answered. She slowly made her way to Alex, almost inviting a false sense of security as she placed he hand on his cheek ever so softly "As for why I needed you here... you are the last piece to my puzzle."

"What puzzle? I got what I wanted... I have my friends back!" The boy retorted, knocking the hand away from her "What could you possibly offer me?"

"You have your friends... are you sure about that child?" Maleficent questioned, firmly yet with a hint of a fake kindness to keep a false impression of sorts. She then, with her magic showed Alex an image of his friends. Particularly, she focused on the Eds.

'Where did Alex go anyway Shovel Chin?' Eddy asked.

'I dunno, his ship was gone by the time I caught up with you guys'

'Oh, well... I'm sure he is fine. He can handle himself' Double D assured.

'It's not like we need his help anyway, we can kick plenty of butt all on our own.' Eddy retorted, smirking broadly.

'You got that right Eddy!' Ed agreed with a wide beaming smile.

'You don't mean that you two, surely?' Double D wondered, scratching his head... 'He's our friend.'

'Maybe you're right, but do we really need Alex's help when we have a group as large and strong as ours? It's not like we're missing out dudes.' Nazz interjected. After a period of prolonged discussion, the group had agreed... deciding that in the end they didn't need Alex, and Alex would be fine without them.

The image had dissipated, and at first Maleficent was met with a blank expression from Alex. However, something dark had stirred within him. Neglect, jealousy... envy. He had at first frowned, before which his lips had eventually formed into a venomous scowl.

"Okay then, Maleficent... what do you want me to do?" Alex asked, spitting out each word in a contained fury. After saying this, Oogie Boogie put a hand on his shoulder.

"Your duty... is to make sure the operations in Halloween Town go undisturbed." Maleficent pointed towards the Kanker Sisters before continuing "These three will give support."

"Understood." The boy replied, his eye's focused narrowly on where the dissipated image formerly appeared.

Xxx

"So... where're we headed anyway?" Nazz queried, folding her arms. She and Kevin had stared at inter-space through the windows, as the ship glided past the floating debris of space rock and asteroids.

"We are on course towards a world called Halloween Town... of course, judging by the name and nature of this world we will need a disguise to fit in." Donald replied, as he steered his ship on course. The Eds, in the mean time, had bundled together. They were still slightly worried about their missing friend.

"I hope he's okay..." Edd muttered an a concerned way.

"I'm sure he'll be fine Double D. With any luck we'll probably bump into him sooner or later." Eddy answered confidently, before shifting his attention to Ed "Speaking of luck... will you get rid of that stinking hunk of cheese Ed? It reeks!"

"NEVER!" Ed exclaimed, as he cradled the smelly block of cheese in his arms "Sheldon will not expire!" The trio had laughed together, sharing an almost unbreakable bond. Meanwhile, Sora and Jonny had stood behind Goofy and Donald, surveying the controls of the ship, as well as the course that the ship was running on.

"You know Donald... you never did say when I could have a ride on the Gummi..." Sora pestered persistently, leaning against the wall "I mean I am the-"

"Yeah yeah, Keyblade Master. Sheesh I get it." Donald remarked, sighing loudly "One day I might let you use the Gummi, possibly..."

"A-Hyuck! We're here!" Goofy announced excitedly, turning towards the party. With an air of enthusiasm, he shouted "Let's get ready to land."

xxx

"Yeesh... this place is a dump..." Eddy grumbled. They were in a damp, drab world. A world fit for many a dark being, and the heartless too. The area they were in was small, although at the end of the path there was a gate leading to a small, quaint town.

"Hey, what's up with these threads anyway?" Kevin queried, tugging at his pointed teeth. He wore a costume like that of classic Dracula, complete with the slicked back hair. Well, when Dracula looked younger at least.

"I think they're pretty gnarly dude." Nazz twirled around, she wore short jeans and a black tank top, yet looked like a decaying Zombie "We'll fit in nicely..." As for the rest of the group, Donald had the appearance of a mummy with his torso being dissected. Ed and Goofy looked like Frankenstein, with the bolts on their neck to boot.

"Cool!" Ed exclaimed, poking and tugging at the bolts on his neck "I have always wanted to be a monster guys!"

"You were a monster bonehead, remember?" Eddy remarked, shaking his head. Moving on, Sora himself had a modified version of his normal clothes with bat wings on the back, a pumpkin Halloween mask and vampire fangs. Eddy was a little unique, wearing nothing but a sort of stitched together rag, like some sort of feral creature. Edd however, looked the same as usual except for a rather large black cape and dark clothes, with his hat adorned with multiple sharp spikes. As for Jonny... he stayed behind to tend to the ship. "Hahaha Double D, you look like Pinhead with a cape and hat!" Eddy guffawed at his friend, pointing insultingly at his complexion.

"Yeah... well at least I don't look like some sort of Gollum!" Double D retorted, sticking out a defiant tongue "Compare to you, I think I've done well." Eddy's face quickly became redder, most likely a combination of sheer embarrassment and outright fury. The rest of the group joined the sock-hatted Edd in the laughter, before continuing on with the exploration.

Xxx

The town square was eerily quiet, and startling empty... except for the heartless of course. However, unlike the other heartless before them, these creatures weren't hostile. Suddenly, a short, pointy headed man had exclaimed,

"Tonight is the night of Halloween, a true scare fest. And our new act tonight are these delightful creatures!" The party were bemused, and looked on, almost confused. These heartless... they were being used?."Do you know what's going on around here mister?" Sora asked, scratching his head "Why do you have heartless in your town?"

"And more importantly, why aren't they wreaking havoc?" Double D added.

"I can answer that!" The group turned to see a walking skeleton in a suit. Despite the menacing appearance, he sported a friendly smile "The name's Jack Skelington, it's been a pleasure to meet you."

"Yeah yeah, just tell us what you're doing with the heartless." Eddy said impatiently, before being met with a swift kick in the shin from Nazz "Ouch!"

"Well, I can tell ya in the lab if you want, after I give the Professor his last ingredient." Jack answered curtly, before bowing gently to the party "Shall we?"

xxx

"So you're telling me... that you're using the heartless as some scary act of sorts?" Donald pondered, before growling in frustration "Arrggghh! Of all the idiotic-"

"Donald!" Sora exclaimed, elbowing him lightly in the ribs.

"I've gotta agree with Ducky over here, this does sound pretty stupid..." Eddy muttered, shaking his head "I mean... we've fought all bunch of guys who've tried to control the heartless, and they end up becoming lunch." Donald looked disapprovingly at Eddy.

"Ducky!?" Donald questioned furiously, quickly becoming red in the face.

"Yeah, but it would be cool to see the heartless dance!" Sora said laughingly, with Ed joining in. Edd examined the ghoulish heartless that laid limp on the bed-like construct, before pointing out,

"It seems this heartless in particular is inactive."

"Why of course it's inactive! I cannot fathom about why this is the case however..." The Professor muttered, shaking his head profusely "I made sure that the control unit was in proper working order."

"Maybe it just needs a heart dude." Nazz suggested.

"A heart shouldn't be too hard to make..." The Professor mumbled, as he got to work with collecting and assembling his ingredients together...

(A few hours later)

After concocting his ingredients together : Fear, Terror, and Hope and Despair, the professor had completed his task of creating the heart. And all he needed now was... "The key to it all." Sora pointed his Keyblade towards the grotesquely shaped heart, using it's power to truly make it work...

"Hmm... I just can't seem to still get it to dance with me..." Jack said almost dejectedly, although his optimistic demeanour won out in the end "I just want the heartless to put on a good show."

"Maybe we could try adding some memory... Sally should have said ingredient that we need..." the ghoulish doctor pointed out.

"Ah yes, Sally! Come along friends, let's make this Halloween one to remember!" And with that, the party followed Jack along on his rather mad attempt. However, before they could go outside to the main square, they were approached by the Mayor.

"Jack! Jack! The heartless of out of control!"

"Don't worry sir, we'll stop them. Right guys?" Jack said, looking at his new-found friends. They nodded in agreement, as they proceeded to deal with the inconvenient manner of the heartless. Meanwhile...

Xxx

"Ya know Plank... I'm kinda bored." Jonny said, flicking a pack of cards "What, you too? I know we're supposed to be watching the ship... but I wanna be doing something exciting! Hey, how about we get outta this place?" With what is to be assumed to be an agreement, Jonny had opened the Gummi Ship's door. He had a glance of the outside world, a glum, gloomy world filled with nothing but horrors and misery. The duo continued on, despite the fact that they weren't in disguise. However, something even more grim was happening "What?" Before his eyes, he saw the Kanker Sisters, alive and well. "What are they up to?"

"Hey Lee, how long are we on 'Duty'? I wanna smash stuff!" Marie moaned, making punching motions with her fists.

"As long as that punk is bossing us around... we ain't gonna be off duty for a while..." Lee answered, twirling an Arrowgun around by the trigger with her finger "Which is a shame, 'cause I'd sure like to wring his neck right about now."

"Y-yeah, but did ya see the look in his eyes? He was like a man possessed!" May shuddered, her body shaking involuntarily "I'd hate to mess with him either way..."

"Oh well... let's just report back to Alex... the Eds and their pals are here. And it looks like they'll be here for a while." The Kankers opened up a dark portal, walking through them whilst not noticing Jonny at all. The bald boy looked on, almost bewildered...

"Alex... the Kankers... we've gotta go tell the Eds Plank, pronto!" And with that, Jonny had rushed off towards the group to bear the bad news...

xxx

"Those heartless were hard work..." Eddy groaned, stretching his back painfully. He was met with agreement by his friends, who made similar actions. They had ended up in the graveyard, finding Sally due to the investigative work of Jack's loyal friend Zero.

"Thank you Sally, your memory is just what we needed!" Jack proclaimed thankfully, shaking her hand with an undying enthusiasm. Sally, on the other hand, seemed less than thrilled. She smiled almost worriedly, as if she was concerned for her lifelong friend.

"Are you sure you'll be alright Jack?" Sally asked.

"Of course Sally, it'll be the best thing ever... Halloween Town will have the most eventful festivities it has experienced for a very long time! And with this heart, we'll make this festival the best."

"But can't you try something else? I'm worried about you Jack..." Sally begged.

"Guys, guys!" Jonny rushed in with hammer in tow, breathing heavily.

"Aren't you supposed to be watching the ship, Melonhead?" Eddy remarked, folding his arms "What's up with the heavy breathing anyway?" He paced himself, and allowed himself some time to catch his breath. He composed himself, before revealing the following...

"The Kankers are here!" Jonny exclaimed, rubbing his head furiously "And from what they were saying, they're working under Alex as well!" Sora, Donald and Goofy looked on almost incredulously. However, the Eds, Nazz and Kevin had looked on in a mix of both fear and apprehension.

"K-Kankers..." Double D mumbled "They're... here?"

"And working under Alex?" Ed questioned, grabbing Jonny's collar furiously and lifting him up "You can't be serious!? Say it isn't so!"

"It is, straight from the horses mouth!" Jonny explained "The Kankers are on some sort of 'duty'. And they're being bossed around by Alex too!" The party couldn't believe it, Jonny was a pretty imaginative child, even a little... mad. But this is one thing he wouldn't think up or imagine. He must have told the truth...

"We'll speak more of this later, let's get back to the Professor first." Edd said, with the group heading back out of the graveyard. Yet, unbeknownst to them, three rag-tag children eavesdropped on their conversation.

"A heart?" One of them, a girl named Shock asked.

"Yeah, sounds pretty nifty." Lock, a child wearing red, replied, smiling devilishly.

"Should we tell Oogie?" Barrel wondered, a tubby child wearing green. They looked at each other in mischief, and in unison exclaimed.

"Yeah!" With that, they escaped back to their master, Oogie Boogie...

(TBC)


End file.
